U.S. patent application number 15/416696 was filed with the patent office on 2017-08-03 for system and method for allowing multiple global identifier (gid) subnet prefix values concurrently for incoming packet processing in a high performance computing environment.
The applicant listed for this patent is Oracle International Corporation. Invention is credited to Bjorn Dag Johnsen, Brian Manula, Arvind Srinivasan.
Application Number | 20170223153 15/416696 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 59387324 |
Filed Date | 2017-08-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170223153 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Johnsen; Bjorn Dag ; et
al. |
August 3, 2017 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALLOWING MULTIPLE GLOBAL IDENTIFIER (GID)
SUBNET PREFIX VALUES CONCURRENTLY FOR INCOMING PACKET PROCESSING IN
A HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT
Abstract
System and method for using multiple global identification
subnet prefix values in a network switch environment in a high
performance computing environment. A packet is received from a
network fabric by a first Host Channel Adapter (HCA). The packet
has a header portion including a destination subnet prefix
identifying a destination subnet of the network fabric. The network
HCA is allowed to receive the first packet from a port of the
network HCA by selectively determining a logical state of a flag
and, selectively in accordance with a predetermined logical state
of the flag, ignoring the destination subnet prefix identifying the
destination subnet of the network fabric.
Inventors: |
Johnsen; Bjorn Dag; (OSLO,
NO) ; Srinivasan; Arvind; (SAN JOSE, CA) ;
Manula; Brian; (OSLO, NO) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Oracle International Corporation |
Redwood Shores |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
59387324 |
Appl. No.: |
15/416696 |
Filed: |
January 26, 2017 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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62288101 |
Jan 28, 2016 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 11/3006 20130101;
H04L 43/0876 20130101; H04L 47/70 20130101; H04L 49/25 20130101;
H04L 47/20 20130101; G06F 9/451 20180201; G11C 15/00 20130101; H04L
49/358 20130101; H04L 45/7457 20130101; H04L 69/22 20130101; G06F
2201/88 20130101; H04L 67/1097 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/06 20060101
H04L029/06; H04L 12/743 20060101 H04L012/743; H04L 12/947 20060101
H04L012/947 |
Claims
1. A method for using multiple global identification subnet prefix
values in a network environment in a high performance computing
environment, the method comprising: providing, at a computer
environment including a network fabric, a first subnet, the first
subnet comprising a first network Host Channel Adapter (HCA)
wherein the first network HCA comprises one or more ports
operatively coupled with a non-transient memory device storing a
first flag and a first end port Global Unique Identifier (GUID)
table, the first end port GUID table including a plurality of alias
identification entries, each of the plurality of alias
identification entries having a capability to represent a different
GUID address identifier to be associated with ports of the first
network HCA; receiving from the network fabric by the first network
HCA a first packet comprising a header portion including a
destination subnet prefix identifying a destination subnet of the
network fabric; allowing the first network HCA to receive the first
packet from the first port of the first network HCA by: selectively
determining a logical state of the first flag; selectively in
accordance with a first logical state of the first flag: ignoring
the destination subnet prefix identifying the destination subnet of
the network fabric; inspecting a Global Routing Header (GRH)
portion of the first packet to determine a destination Global
Unique Identifier (Dest GUID); comparing the Dest GUID with the
plurality of GUID values stored in the first end port GUID table;
and accepting the first packet based on one entry in the first end
port GUID table having a GUID value matching the Dest GUID; and
selectively in accordance with a second logical state of the first
flag: inspecting the destination subnet prefix portion of the first
packet to determine a correspondence between the destination subnet
prefix and one or more of: a default subnet prefix value, and/or an
assigned subnet prefix value, and selectively accepting the first
packet based on one entry in the first end port GUID table having a
GUID value matching the Dest GUID.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: allowing the first
network HCA to receive the first packet from the first port of the
first network HCA comprises: selectively in accordance with the
second logical state of the first flag: inspecting the Global
Routing Header (GRH) portion of the first packet to determine a
destination Global Unique Identifier (Dest GUID); comparing the
Dest GUID with the plurality of GUID values stored in the first end
port GUID table; and accepting the first packet based on one entry
in the first end port GUID table having a GUID value matching the
Dest GUID.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving the first
packet comprises: receiving from the network fabric by the first
network HCA a first packet comprising a header portion including a
destination subnet prefix identifying a second subnet of the
network fabric, the second subnet being different than the first
subnet.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: selectively
determining the logical state of the first flag comprises
inspecting a value of an end port ignore switch register stored in
the non-transient memory device.
5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving
by the first network HCA the assigned subnet prefix value from a
local Subnet Manager (SM) of the first subnet; and comparing the
received assigned subnet prefix value with the destination subnet
prefix of the first packet.
6. A system for using multiple global identification subnet prefix
values in a network switch environment in a high performance
computing environment, the system comprising: a first subnet in an
associated computer environment including a network fabric, the
first subnet comprising: a first network Host Channel Adapter (HCA)
wherein the first network HCA comprises: a plurality of ports; and
a non-transient memory device operatively coupled with the
plurality of ports and storing a first flag and a first end port
Global Unique Identifier (GUID) table, the first end port GUID
table including a plurality of alias identification entries, each
of the plurality of alias identification entries having a
capability to represent a different GUID address identifier to be
associated with ports of the first network HCA; logic stored in the
non-transient memory device; and a processor configured to execute
the logic; wherein a first packet is received from the network
fabric by the first network HCA, the first packet comprising a
header portion including a destination subnet prefix identifying a
destination subnet of the network fabric; wherein the first network
HCA is allowed to receive the first packet from the first port of
the first network HCA by: selectively determining a logical state
of the first flag; selectively in accordance with a first logical
state of the first flag: ignoring the destination subnet prefix
identifying the destination subnet of the network fabric;
inspecting a Global Routing Header (GRH) portion of the first
packet to determine a destination Global Unique Identifier (Dest
GUID); comparing the Dest GUID with the plurality of GUID values
stored in the first end port GUID table; and accepting the first
packet based on one entry in the first end port GUID table having a
GUID value matching the Dest GUID; and selectively in accordance
with a second logical state of the first flag: inspecting the
destination subnet prefix portion of the first packet to determine
a correspondence between the destination subnet prefix and one or
more of: a default subnet prefix value, and/or an assigned subnet
prefix value, and selectively accepting the first packet based on
one entry in the first end port GUID table having a GUID value
matching the Dest GUID;
7. The system according to claim 6, wherein: the first network HCA
is allowed to receive the first packet from the first port of the
first network HCA by: selectively in accordance with the second
logical state of the first flag: inspecting the Global Routing
Header (GRH) portion of the first packet to determine a destination
Global Unique Identifier (Dest GUID); comparing the Dest GUID with
the plurality of GUID values stored in the first end port GUID
table; and accepting the first packet based on one entry in the
first end port GUID table having a GUID value matching the Dest
GUID.
8. The system according to claim 6, wherein: the first network HCA
receives from the network fabric a first packet comprising a header
portion including a destination subnet prefix identifying a second
subnet of the network fabric, the second subnet being different
than the first subnet.
9. The system according to claim 8, wherein: the logic is executed
by the processor to selectively determine the logical state of the
first flag by inspecting a value of an end port ignore switch
register stored in the non-transient memory device.
10. The system according to claim 6, wherein: the first network HCA
receives the assigned subnet prefix value from a local Subnet
Manager (SM) of the first subnet; and the received assigned subnet
prefix value is compared with the destination subnet prefix of the
first packet.
11. A non-transitory machine readable medium having instructions
stored thereon that when executed by an associated computer
comprising a network fabric and a first subnet cause the associated
computer to perform steps comprising: providing, at a computer
environment including a network fabric, a first subnet, the first
subnet comprising a first network Host Channel Adapter (HCA)
wherein the first network HCA comprises one or more ports
operatively coupled with a non-transient memory device storing a
first flag and a first end port Global Unique Identifier (GUID)
table, the first end port GUID table including a plurality of alias
identification entries, each of the plurality of alias
identification entries having a capability to represent a different
GUID address identifier to be associated with ports of the first
network HCA; receiving from the network fabric by the first network
HCA a first packet comprising a header portion including a
destination subnet prefix identifying a destination subnet of the
network fabric; allowing the first network HCA to receive the first
packet from the first port of the first network HCA by: selectively
determining a logical state of the first flag; selectively in
accordance with a first logical state of the first flag: ignoring
the destination subnet prefix identifying the destination subnet of
the network fabric; inspecting a Global Routing Header (GRH)
portion of the first packet to determine a destination Global
Unique Identifier (Dest GUID); comparing the Dest GUID with the
plurality of GUID values stored in the first end port GUID table;
and accepting the first packet based on one entry in the first end
port GUID table having a GUID value matching the Dest GUID; and
selectively in accordance with a second logical state of the first
flag: inspecting the destination subnet prefix portion of the first
packet to determine a correspondence between the destination subnet
prefix and one or more of: a default subnet prefix value, and/or an
assigned subnet prefix value, and selectively accepting the first
packet based on one entry in the first end port GUID table having a
GUID value matching the Dest GUID.
12. The non-transitory machine readable medium according to claim
11, wherein: allowing the first network HCA to receive the first
packet from the first port of the first network HCA comprises:
selectively in accordance with the second logical state of the
first flag: inspecting the Global Routing Header (GRH) portion of
the first packet to determine a destination Global Unique
Identifier (Dest GUID); comparing the Dest GUID with the plurality
of GUID values stored in the first end port GUID table; and
accepting the first packet based on one entry in the first end port
GUID table having a GUID value matching the Dest GUID.
13. The non-transitory machine readable medium according to claim
11, wherein the receiving the first packet comprises: receiving
from the network fabric by the first network HCA a first packet
comprising a header portion including a destination subnet prefix
identifying a second subnet of the network fabric, the second
subnet being different than the first subnet.
14. The non-transitory machine readable medium according to claim
13, wherein: selectively determining the logical state of the first
flag comprises inspecting a value of an end port ignore switch
register stored in the non-transient memory device.
15. The non-transitory machine readable medium according to claim
11, further comprising: receiving by the first network HCA the
assigned subnet prefix value from a local Subnet Manager (SM) of
the first subnet; and comparing the received assigned subnet prefix
value with the destination subnet prefix of the first packet.
Description
CLAIM OF PRIORITY AND CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S.
Provisional patent application entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
USING SUBNET PREFIX VALUES IN GLOBAL ROUTE HEADERS FOR LINEAR
FORWARDING TABLE LOOKUP IN A HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING
ENVIRONMENT", Application No. 62/288,101, filed on Jan. 28, 2016,
which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
[0002] This application is related to the following patent
applications, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in
its entirety:
[0003] U.S. patent application entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
USING SUBNET PREFIX VALUES IN GLOBAL ROUTE HEADER (GRH) FOR LINEAR
FORWARDING TABLE (LFT) LOOKUP IN A HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING
ENVIRONMENT", application Ser. No. ______, filed, ______, 2017
(Attorney Docket No. ORACL-05737US1); and
[0004] U.S. patent application entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
USING Q_KEY VALUE ENFORCEMENT AS A FLEXIBLE WAY OF PROVIDING
RESOURCE ACCESS CONTROL WITHIN A SINGLE PARTITION IN A HIGH
PERFORMANCE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT", application Ser. No. ______,
filed ______, 2017 (Attorney Docket No. ORACL-05739US0).
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
[0005] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains
material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright
owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of
the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the
Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise
reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
FIELD
[0006] The embodiments herein are generally related to computer
systems, and are particularly related to providing network switch
functionality in a network environment.
BACKGROUND
[0007] As larger cloud computing architectures are introduced, the
performance and administrative bottlenecks associated with the
traditional network and storage have become a significant problem.
There has been an increased interest in using high performance
lossless interconnects such as InfiniBand (IB) technology as the
foundation for a cloud computing fabric.
[0008] The 48K unicast local identification (LID) value space in a
single IB subnet represents a limitation for the size of the subnet
in terms of number of end nodes. This limit is of particular
importance when virtualized host channel adapters (HCAs) provide
multiple virtual HCA instances where each such virtual HCA instance
may be configured with an independent LID for each virtual
port.
[0009] The IB standard specification defines router nodes in order
to allow multiple subnets to be connected within the same IB fabric
and support packet forwarding based on mapping of fabric wide 128
bit destination global identifier (DGID) address values to 16 bit
destination LID (DLID) address values for each intermediate subnet
as well as for the final target subnet.
[0010] However, mapping of 128 bit DGID values to 16 bit DLID
values at IB wire speed requires complex content addressable memory
(CAM) based lookup hardware that has limited scalability in terms
of the number of individual DGIDs that can be uniquely looked up
(i.e. within reasonable cost/complexity constraints for the
hardware implementation). This implies that in order to scale to a
large number of individual destinations, the mapping of 128 bit
DGID values to 16 bit DLID values must be flexible and must be able
to use a hierarchical scheme so that a large number of individual
DGID addresses can be mapped via a single lookup entry.
[0011] However, while a hierarchical mapping structure represents
scalability in terms of the total number of subnets and end nodes
that can be represented, it also represents a severe limitation of
the ability to route individual destinations independently in order
to maintain load-balancing and QOS constraints for different flows
and workloads throughout the multi-subnet fabric.
[0012] In addition, the InfiniBand (IB) specification requires that
the HCAs are able to receive packets with global Route Headers
(GRHs) where the subnet prefix of the Destination GID (DGID) of the
incoming GRH is either a default prefix or a single prefix that has
been assigned to the relevant HCA port by the local Subnet Manager
(SM). While this allows flexibility in terms of allowing a subnet
to migrate from using the default prefix to using an assigned
prefix, it does not however resolve the issue of changing the
assigned prefix value dynamically at run time. This situation also
does not allow a global fabric implementation to use multiple
subnet prefix values in order to control the routing for one or
more end-nodes that each have one or more fixed Global Unique
Identifier (GUID) values.
[0013] This is the general area that embodiments of the claimed
invention are intended to address.
SUMMARY
[0014] Described herein are systems and methods that can support
both dynamic updates of the subnet prefix as well as the use of
multiple prefix values to represent multiple paths through the
fabric as well as dynamic updates of such paths with minimum impact
on existing data connections and existing data flows. Exemplary
systems and methods provide for the ability of HCAs to selectively
ignore subnet prefix values in Destination GIDs (DGIDs). The
ability of HCAs to selectively ignore subnet prefix values in DGIDs
supports dynamic update of the subnet prefix. The ability of HCAs
to selectively ignore subnet prefix values in DGIDs also supports
the use of multiple prefix values to represent multiple paths
through the fabric as well as dynamic updates of such paths with
minimum impact on existing data connections and existing data
flows. The exemplary systems and methods may be applied in high
performance computing environments that use intra- and inter-subnet
address resolution, such as engineered systems for middleware and
application execution or a middleware machine environment, using
subnet prefix values in global route headers (GRHs) for linear
forwarding table (LFT) lookup in high performance computing
environments. The exemplary systems and methods may be applied in
other high performance computing environments as well.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0015] FIG. 1 shows an illustration of an InfiniBand environment,
in accordance with an embodiment.
[0016] FIG. 2 shows an illustration of a partitioned cluster
environment, in accordance with an embodiment
[0017] FIG. 3 shows an illustration of a tree topology in a network
environment, in accordance with an embodiment.
[0018] FIG. 4 shows an exemplary shared port architecture, in
accordance with an embodiment.
[0019] FIG. 5 shows an exemplary vSwitch architecture, in
accordance with an embodiment.
[0020] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary vPort architecture, in accordance
with an embodiment.
[0021] FIG. 7 shows an exemplary vSwitch architecture with
prepopulated LIDs, in accordance with an embodiment.
[0022] FIG. 8 shows an exemplary vSwitch architecture with dynamic
LID assignment, in accordance with an embodiment.
[0023] FIG. 9 shows an exemplary vSwitch architecture with vSwitch
with dynamic LID assignment and prepopulated LIDs, in accordance
with an embodiment.
[0024] FIG. 10 shows an exemplary multi-subnet InfiniBand fabric,
in accordance with an embodiment.
[0025] FIG. 11 shows an illustration of a data packet format using
InfiniBand (IB) addressing to access a data service in a network
environment, in accordance with an embodiment.
[0026] FIG. 12 shows an exemplary portion of a Linear Forwarding
Table (LFT) for intra- and inter-subnet forwarding, in accordance
with an embodiment.
[0027] FIG. 13 shows an illustration of forwarding domains in
accordance with an embodiment.
[0028] FIG. 14 shows an illustration of modifying a packet header
from an GRH/ISRN addressing mode format to a LRH/DLID based
forwarding format, in accordance with an embodiment.
[0029] FIG. 15 is an illustration of a switch providing a mechanism
defining a special switch port boundary for changing packet
forwarding from an LRH/DLID addressing mode to a GRH/ISRN
addressing mode, in accordance with an embodiment.
[0030] FIG. 16 is a flowchart for a method for using packet headers
for linear forwarding table lookup for both intra- and inter-subnet
forwarding, in accordance with an embodiment.
[0031] FIG. 17 is an illustration of a switch providing a mechanism
for allowing multiple GID subnet prefix values concurrently for
incoming IB packets, in accordance with an embodiment.
[0032] FIG. 18 shows an illustration of forwarding domains and
forwarding paths in accordance with an embodiment.
[0033] FIG. 19 is a flowchart for a method for allowing multiple
GID subnet prefix values concurrently for incoming IB packets, in
accordance with an embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0034] The example embodiments are illustrated, by way of example
and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying
drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It
should be noted that references to "an" or "one" or "some"
embodiment(s) in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same
embodiment, and such references mean at least one. While specific
implementations are discussed, it is understood that the specific
implementations are provided for illustrative purposes only. A
person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other
components and configurations may be used without departing from
the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.
[0035] Common reference numerals can be used to indicate like
elements throughout the drawings and detailed description;
therefore, reference numerals used in a figure may or may not be
referenced in the detailed description specific to such figure if
the element is described elsewhere.
[0036] Described herein are systems and methods that support
multiple global identifier (GID) subnet prefix values concurrently.
It is to be appreciated that allowing multiple GID subnet prefix
values concurrently beneficially enables, among other things,
intra- and inter-subnet forwarding decisions enabling live
migration of virtual machines (VMs) using subnet prefix values in
global route headers (GRHs) for linear forwarding table (LFT)
lookup in a high performance computing environments.
[0037] The following description of the example embodiments uses an
InfiniBand.TM. (IB) network as an example for a high performance
network. Throughout the following description, reference can be
made to the InfiniBand.RTM. specification (also referred to
variously as the InfiniBand specification, IB specification, or the
legacy IB specification). Such reference is understood to refer to
the InfiniBand.RTM. Trade Association Architecture Specification,
Volume 1, Version 1.3, released March, 2015, available at
http://www.inifinibandta.org, which is herein incorporated by
reference in its entirety. It will be apparent to those skilled in
the art that other types of high performance networks can be used
without limitation. The following description also uses the
fat-tree topology as an example for a fabric topology. It will be
apparent to those skilled in the art that other types of fabric
topologies can be used without limitation.
[0038] To meet the demands of the cloud in the current era (e.g.,
Exascale era), it is desirable for virtual machines to be able to
utilize low overhead network communication paradigms such as Remote
Direct Memory Access (RDMA). RDMA bypasses the OS stack and
communicates directly with the hardware, thus, pass-through
technology like Single-Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) network
adapters can be used. In accordance with an embodiment, a virtual
switch (vSwitch) SR-IOV architecture can be provided for
applicability in high performance lossless interconnection
networks. As network reconfiguration time is critical to make
live-migration a practical option, in addition to network
architecture, a scalable and topology-agnostic dynamic
reconfiguration mechanism can be provided.
[0039] In accordance with an embodiment, and furthermore, routing
strategies for virtualized environments using vSwitches can be
provided, and an efficient routing algorithm for network topologies
(e.g., Fat-Tree topologies) can be provided. The dynamic
reconfiguration mechanism can be further tuned to minimize imposed
overhead in Fat-Trees.
[0040] In accordance with an embodiment, virtualization can be
beneficial to efficient resource utilization and elastic resource
allocation in cloud computing. Live migration makes it possible to
optimize resource usage by moving virtual machines (VMs) between
physical servers in an application transparent manner. Thus,
virtualization can enable consolidation, on-demand provisioning of
resources, and elasticity through live migration.
InfiniBand.TM.
[0041] InfiniBand.TM. (IB) is an open standard lossless network
technology developed by the InfiniBand.TM. Trade Association. The
technology is based on a serial point-to-point full-duplex
interconnect that offers high throughput and low latency
communication, geared particularly towards high-performance
computing (HPC) applications and datacenters.
[0042] The InfiniBand.TM. Architecture (IBA) supports a two-layer
topological division. At the lower layer, IB networks are referred
to as subnets, where a subnet can include a set of hosts
interconnected using switches and point-to-point links. At the
higher level, an IB fabric constitutes one or more subnets, which
can be interconnected using routers.
[0043] Within a subnet, hosts can be connected using switches and
point-to-point links. Additionally, there can be a master
management entity, the subnet manager (SM), which resides on a
designated device in the subnet. The subnet manager is responsible
for configuring, activating and maintaining the IB subnet.
Additionally, the subnet manager (SM) can be responsible for
performing routing table calculations in an IB fabric. Here, for
example, the routing of the IB network aims at proper load
balancing between all source and destination pairs in the local
subnet.
[0044] Through the subnet management interface, the subnet manager
exchanges control packets, which are referred to as subnet
management packets (SMPs), with subnet management agents (SMAs).
The subnet management agents reside on every IB subnet device. By
using SMPs, the subnet manager is able to discover the fabric,
configure end nodes and switches, and receive notifications from
SMAs.
[0045] In accordance with an embodiment, intra-subnet routing in an
IB network can be based on linear forwarding tables (LFTs) stored
in the switches. The LFTs are calculated by the SM according to the
routing mechanism in use. In a subnet, Host Channel Adapter (HCA)
ports on the end nodes and switches are addressed using local
identifiers (LIDs). Each entry in a linear forwarding table (LFT)
consists of a destination LID (DLID) and an output port. Only one
entry per LID in the table is supported. When a packet arrives at a
switch, its output port is determined by looking up the DLID in the
forwarding table of the switch. The routing is deterministic as
packets take the same path in the network between a given
source-destination pair (LID pair).
[0046] Generally, all other subnet managers, excepting the master
subnet manager, act in standby mode for fault-tolerance. In a
situation where a master subnet manager fails, however, a new
master subnet manager is negotiated by the standby subnet managers.
The master subnet manager also performs periodic sweeps of the
subnet to detect any topology changes and reconfigures the network
accordingly.
[0047] Furthermore, hosts and switches within a subnet can be
addressed using local identifiers (LIDs), and a single subnet can
be limited to 49151 unicast LIDs. Besides the LIDs, which are the
local addresses that are valid within a subnet, each IB device can
have a 64-bit global unique identifier (GUID). A GUID can be used
to form a global identifier (GID), which is an IB layer three (L3)
address.
[0048] The SM can calculate routing tables (i.e., the
connections/routes between each pair of nodes within the subnet) at
network initialization time. Furthermore, the routing tables can be
updated whenever the topology changes, in order to ensure
connectivity and optimal performance. During normal operations, the
SM can perform periodic light sweeps of the network to check for
topology changes. If a change is discovered during a light sweep or
if a message (trap) signaling a network change is received by the
SM, the SM can reconfigure the network according to the discovered
changes.
[0049] For example, the SM can reconfigure the network when the
network topology changes, such as when a link goes down, when a
device is added, or when a link is removed. The reconfiguration
steps can include the steps performed during the network
initialization. Furthermore, the reconfigurations can have a local
scope that is limited to the subnets, in which the network changes
occurred. Also, the segmenting of a large fabric with routers may
limit the reconfiguration scope.
[0050] An example InfiniBand fabric is shown in FIG. 1, which shows
an illustration of an InfiniBand environment 100, in accordance
with an embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 1, nodes A-E,
101-105, use the InfiniBand fabric, 120, to communicate, via the
respective host channel adapters 111-115. In accordance with an
embodiment, the various nodes, e.g., nodes A-E, 101-105, can be
represented by various physical devices. In accordance with an
embodiment, the various nodes, e.g., nodes A-E, 101-105, can also
be represented by various virtual devices, such as virtual
machines.
Partitioning in InfiniBand
[0051] In accordance with an embodiment, IB networks can support
partitioning as a security mechanism to provide for isolation of
logical groups of systems sharing a network fabric. Each HCA port
on a node in the fabric can be a member of one or more partitions.
Partition memberships are managed by a centralized partition
manager, which can be part of the SM. The SM can configure
partition membership information on each port as a table of 16-bit
partition keys (P_Keys). The SM can also configure switch and
router ports with the partition enforcement tables containing P_Key
information associated with the end-nodes that send or receive data
traffic through these ports. Additionally, in a general case,
partition membership of a switch port can represent a union of all
membership indirectly associated with LIDs routed via the port in
an egress (towards the link) direction.
[0052] In accordance with an embodiment, partitions are logical
groups of ports such that the members of a group can only
communicate to other members of the same logical group. At host
channel adapters (HCAs) and switches, packets can be filtered using
the partition membership information to enforce isolation. Packets
with invalid partitioning information can be dropped as soon as the
packets reaches an incoming port. In partitioned IB systems,
partitions can be used to create tenant clusters. With partition
enforcement in place, a node cannot communicate with other nodes
that belong to a different tenant cluster. In this way, the
security of the system can be guaranteed even in the presence of
compromised or malicious tenant nodes.
[0053] In accordance with an embodiment, for the communication
between nodes, Queue Pairs (QPs) and End-to-End contexts (EECs) can
be assigned to a particular partition, except for the management
Queue Pairs (QP0 and QP1). The P_Key information can then be added
to every IB transport packet sent. When a packet arrives at an HCA
port or a switch, its P_Key value can be validated against a table
configured by the SM. If an invalid P_Key value is found, the
packet is discarded immediately. In this way, communication is
allowed only between ports sharing a partition.
[0054] An example of IB partitions is shown in FIG. 2, which shows
an illustration of a partitioned cluster environment, in accordance
with an embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 2, nodes A-E,
101-105, use the InfiniBand fabric, 120, to communicate, via the
respective host channel adapters 111-115. The nodes A-E are
arranged into partitions, namely partition 1, 130, partition 2,
140, and partition 3, 150. Partition 1 comprises node A 101 and
node D 104. Partition 2 comprises node A 101, node B 102, and node
C 103. Partition 3 comprises node C 103 and node E 105. Because of
the arrangement of the partitions, node D 104 and node E 105 are
not allowed to communicate as these nodes do not share a partition.
Meanwhile, for example, node A 101 and node C 103 are allowed to
communicate as these nodes are both members of partition 2,
140.
Virtual Machines in InfiniBand
[0055] During the last decade, the prospect of virtualized High
Performance Computing (HPC) environments has improved considerably
as CPU overhead has been practically removed through hardware
virtualization support; memory overhead has been significantly
reduced by virtualizing the Memory Management Unit; storage
overhead has been reduced by the use of fast SAN storages or
distributed networked file systems; and network I/O overhead has
been reduced by the use of device passthrough techniques like
Single Root Input/Output Virtualization (SR-IOV). It is now
possible for clouds to accommodate virtual HPC (vHPC) clusters
using high performance interconnect solutions and deliver the
necessary performance.
[0056] However, when coupled with lossless networks, such as
InfiniBand (IB), certain cloud functionality, such as live
migration of virtual machines (VMs), still remains an issue due to
the complicated addressing and routing schemes used in these
solutions. IB is an interconnection network technology offering
high bandwidth and low latency, thus, is very well suited for HPC
and other communication intensive workloads.
[0057] The traditional approach for connecting IB devices to VMs is
by utilizing SR-IOV with direct assignment. However, achieving live
migration of VMs assigned with IB Host Channel Adapters (HCAs)
using SR-IOV has proved to be challenging. Each IB connected node
has three different addresses: LID, GUID, and GID. When a live
migration happens, one or more of these addresses change. Other
nodes communicating with the VM-in-migration can lose connectivity.
When this happens, the lost connection can be attempted to be
renewed by locating the virtual machine's new address to reconnect
to by sending Subnet Administration (SA) path record queries to the
IB Subnet Manager (SM).
Layers and Addressing in InfiniBand
[0058] The IB architecture is divided into multiple layers wherein
each of the multiple layers operates separately and independently
from the other layers. On one end of IB Layer abstraction, the IB
Physical Layer defines the electrical and mechanical
characteristics of the IB system, and on the other end of IB Layer
abstraction the IB Upper Layer communicates transactions between
host and remote clients. The IB Transport Layer operates to provide
partitioning, channel multiplexing, transport services, and packet
segmentation and reassembly when sending and receiving data,
respectively. Packet forwarding and switching within a subnet is
handled at the IB Link Layer, and the IB Network Layer handles
routing of the packets from one subnet to another.
[0059] In general, the Network Layer defines the protocol for
routing a packet within a single subnet and between different
subnets. For this the IB architecture uses three different types of
addresses. A first type of IB address is the 16 bits Local
Identifier (LID). At least one unique LID is assigned to each HCA
port and each switch by the SM. The LIDs are used to route traffic
within a subnet wherein Link Level switching forwards packets from
a device specified by a source LID (SLID) within a Local Route
Header (LRH) of the packet to a device specified by a destination
LID (DLID) within the Local Route Header LRH. Since the LID is 16
bits long, 65536 unique address combinations can be made, of which
only 49151 (0x0001-0xBFFF) can be used as unicast addresses.
Consequently, the number of available unicast addresses defines the
maximum size of an IB subnet.
[0060] A second type of IB address is the 64 bits Global Unique
Identifier (GUID) assigned by the manufacturer to each device (e.g.
HCAs and switches) and each HCA port. The SM may assign additional
subnet unique GUIDs to an HCA port, which is useful when SR-IOV is
used. Routers operating at the Network Layer send packets
containing a Global Route Header (GRH) between different subnets.
The routers forward the packets across subnets using the unique
GUID of each device. In the process, the last router in the packet
path towards the destination port in the destination subnet
modifies the LRH of the packets by replacing the source LID in the
LRH with the proper LID of the destination port.
[0061] A third type of address is the 128 bits Global Identifier
(GID). The GID is a valid IPv6 unicast address, and at least one is
assigned to each HCA port. The GID is formed by combining a
globally unique 64 bits prefix assigned by the fabric
administrator, and the GUID address of each HCA port. GIDs are
independent of LIDs and, as such, remain unaffected by subnet
reconfiguration.
Fat-Tree (FTree) Topologies and Routing
[0062] In accordance with an embodiment, some of the IB based HPC
systems employ a fat-tree topology to take advantage of the useful
properties fat-trees offer. These properties include full
bisection-bandwidth and inherent fault-tolerance due to the
availability of multiple paths between each source destination
pair. The initial idea behind fat-trees was to employ fatter links
between nodes, with more available bandwidth, as the tree moves
towards the roots of the topology. The fatter links can help to
avoid congestion in the upper-level switches and the
bisection-bandwidth is maintained.
[0063] FIG. 3 shows an illustration of a tree topology in a network
environment, in accordance with an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3,
one or more end nodes 201-204 can be connected in a network fabric
200. The network fabric 200 can be based on a fat-tree topology,
which includes a plurality of leaf switches 211-214, and multiple
spine switches or root switches 231-234. Additionally, the network
fabric 200 can include one or more intermediate switches, such as
switches 221-224.
[0064] Also as shown in FIG. 3, each of the end nodes 201-204 can
be a multi-homed node, i.e., a single node that is connected to two
or more parts of the network fabric 200 through multiple ports. For
example, the node 201 can include the ports H1 and H2, the node 202
can include the ports H3 and H4, the node 203 can include the ports
H5 and H6, and the node 204 can include the ports H7 and H8.
[0065] Additionally, each switch can have multiple switch ports.
For example, the root switch 231 can have the switch ports 1-2, the
root switch 232 can have the switch ports 3-4, the root switch 233
can have the switch ports 5-6, and the root switch 234 can have the
switch ports 7-8.
[0066] In accordance with an embodiment, the fat-tree routing
mechanism is one of the most popular routing algorithm for IB based
fat-tree topologies. The fat-tree routing mechanism is also
implemented in the OFED (Open Fabric Enterprise Distribution--a
standard software stack for building and deploying IB based
applications) subnet manager, OpenSM.
[0067] The fat-tree routing mechanism aims to generate LFTs that
evenly spread shortest-path routes across the links in the network
fabric. The mechanism traverses the fabric in the indexing order
and assigns target LIDs of the end nodes, and thus the
corresponding routes, to each switch port. For the end nodes
connected to the same leaf switch, the indexing order can depend on
the switch port to which the end node is connected (i.e., port
numbering sequence). For each port, the mechanism can maintain a
port usage counter, and can use this port usage counter to select a
least-used port each time a new route is added.
[0068] In accordance with an embodiment, in a partitioned subnet,
nodes that are not members of a common partition are not allowed to
communicate. Practically, this means that some of the routes
assigned by the fat-tree routing algorithm are not used for the
user traffic. The problem arises when the fat tree routing
mechanism generates LFTs for those routes the same way it does for
the other functional paths. This behavior can result in degraded
balancing on the links, as nodes are routed in the order of
indexing. As routing can be performed oblivious to the partitions,
fat-tree routed subnets, in general, provide poor isolation among
partitions.
[0069] In accordance with an embodiment, a Fat-Tree is a
hierarchical network topology that can scale with the available
network resources. Moreover, Fat-Trees are easy to build using
commodity switches placed on different levels of the hierarchy.
Different variations of Fat-Trees are commonly available, including
k-ary-n-trees, Extended Generalized Fat-Trees (XGFTs), Parallel
Ports Generalized Fat-Trees (PGFTs) and Real Life Fat-Trees
(RLFTs).
[0070] A k-ary-n-tree is an n level Fat-Tree with k.sup.n end nodes
and nk.sup.n-1 switches, each with 2 k ports. Each switch has an
equal number of up and down connections in the tree. XGFT Fat-Tree
extends k-ary-n-trees by allowing both different number of up and
down connections for the switches, and different number of
connections at each level in the tree. The PGFT definition further
broadens the XGFT topologies and permits multiple connections
between switches. A large variety of topologies can be defined
using XGFTs and PGFTs. However, for practical purposes, RLFT, which
is a restricted version of PGFT, is introduced to define Fat-Trees
commonly found in today's HPC clusters. An RLFT uses the same
port-count switches at all levels in the Fat-Tree.
Input/Output (I/O) Virtualization
[0071] In accordance with an embodiment, I/O Virtualization (IOV)
can provide availability of I/O by allowing virtual machines (VMs)
to access the underlying physical resources. The combination of
storage traffic and inter-server communication impose an increased
load that may overwhelm the I/O resources of a single server,
leading to backlogs and idle processors as they are waiting for
data. With the increase in number of I/O requests, IOV can provide
availability; and can improve performance, scalability and
flexibility of the (virtualized) I/O resources to match the level
of performance seen in modern CPU virtualization.
[0072] In accordance with an embodiment, IOV is desired as it can
allow sharing of I/O resources and provide protected access to the
resources from the VMs. IOV decouples a logical device, which is
exposed to a VM, from its physical implementation. Currently, there
can be different types of IOV technologies, such as emulation,
paravirtualization, direct assignment (DA), and single root-I/O
virtualization (SR-IOV).
[0073] In accordance with an embodiment, one type of IOV technology
is software emulation. Software emulation can allow for a decoupled
front-end/back-end software architecture. The front-end can be a
device driver placed in the VM, communicating with the back-end
implemented by a hypervisor to provide I/O access. The physical
device sharing ratio is high and live migrations of VMs are
possible with just a few milliseconds of network downtime. However,
software emulation introduces additional, undesired computational
overhead.
[0074] In accordance with an embodiment, another type of IOV
technology is direct device assignment. Direct device assignment
involves a coupling of I/O devices to VMs, with no device sharing
between VMs. Direct assignment, or device passthrough, provides
near to native performance with minimum overhead. The physical
device bypasses the hypervisor and is directly attached to the VM.
However, a downside of such direct device assignment is limited
scalability, as there is no sharing among virtual machines--one
physical network card is coupled with one VM.
[0075] In accordance with an embodiment, Single Root IOV (SR-IOV)
can allow a physical device to appear through hardware
virtualization as multiple independent lightweight instances of the
same device. These instances can be assigned to VMs as passthrough
devices, and accessed as Virtual Functions (VFs). The hypervisor
accesses the device through a unique (per device), fully featured
Physical Function (PF). SR-IOV eases the scalability issue of pure
direct assignment. However, a problem presented by SR-IOV is that
it can impair VM migration. Among these IOV technologies, SR-IOV
can extend the PCI Express (PCIe) specification with the means to
allow direct access to a single physical device from multiple VMs
while maintaining near to native performance. Thus, SR-IOV can
provide good performance and scalability.
[0076] SR-IOV allows a PCIe device to expose multiple virtual
devices that can be shared between multiple guests by allocating
one virtual device to each guest. Each SR-IOV device has at least
one physical function (PF) and one or more associated virtual
functions (VF). A PF is a normal PCIe function controlled by the
virtual machine monitor (VMM), or hypervisor, whereas a VF is a
light-weight PCIe function. Each VF has its own base address (BAR)
and is assigned with a unique requester ID that enables I/O memory
management unit (IOMMU) to differentiate between the traffic
streams to/from different VFs. The IOMMU also apply memory and
interrupt translations between the PF and the VFs.
[0077] Unfortunately, however, direct device assignment techniques
pose a barrier for cloud providers in situations where transparent
live migration of virtual machines is desired for data center
optimization. The essence of live migration is that the memory
contents of a VM are copied to a remote hypervisor. Then the VM is
paused at the source hypervisor, and the VM's operation is resumed
at the destination. When using software emulation methods, the
network interfaces are virtual so their internal states are stored
into the memory and get copied as well. Thus the downtime could be
brought down to a few milliseconds.
[0078] However, migration becomes more difficult when direct device
assignment techniques, such as SR-IOV, are used. In such
situations, a complete internal state of the network interface
cannot be copied as it is tied to the hardware. The SR-IOV VFs
assigned to a VM are instead detached, the live migration will run,
and a new VF will be attached at the destination. In the case of
InfiniBand and SR-IOV, this process can introduce downtime in the
order of seconds. Moreover, in an SR-IOV shared port model the
addresses of the VM will change after the migration, causing
additional overhead in the SM and a negative impact on the
performance of the underlying network fabric.
InfiniBand SR-IOV Architecture--Shared Port
[0079] There can be different types of SR-IOV models, e.g. a shared
port model, a virtual switch model, and a virtual port model.
[0080] FIG. 4 shows an exemplary shared port architecture, in
accordance with an embodiment. As depicted in the figure, a host
300 (e.g., a host channel adapter) can interact with a hypervisor
310, which can assign the various virtual functions 330, 340, 350,
to a number of virtual machines. As well, the physical function can
be handled by the hypervisor 310.
[0081] In accordance with an embodiment, when using a shared port
architecture, such as that depicted in FIG. 4, the host, e.g., HCA,
appears as a single port in the network with a single shared LID
and shared Queue Pair (QP) space between the physical function 320
and the virtual functions 330, 350, 350. However, each function
(i.e., physical function and virtual functions) can have their own
GID.
[0082] As shown in FIG. 4, in accordance with an embodiment,
different GIDs can be assigned to the virtual functions and the
physical function, and the special queue pairs, QP0 and QP1 (i.e.,
special purpose queue pairs that are used for InfiniBand management
packets), are owned by the physical function. These QPs are exposed
to the VFs as well, but the VFs are not allowed to use QP0 (all
SMPs coming from VFs towards QP0 are discarded), and QP1 can act as
a proxy of the actual QP1 owned by the PF.
[0083] In accordance with an embodiment, the shared port
architecture can allow for highly scalable data centers that are
not limited by the number of VMs (which attach to the network by
being assigned to the virtual functions), as the LID space is only
consumed by physical machines and switches in the network.
[0084] However, a shortcoming of the shared port architecture is
the inability to provide transparent live migration, hindering the
potential for flexible VM placement. As each LID is associated with
a specific hypervisor, and shared among all VMs residing on the
hypervisor, a migrating VM (i.e., a virtual machine migrating to a
destination hypervisor) has to have its LID changed to the LID of
the destination hypervisor. Furthermore, as a consequence of the
restricted QP0 access, a subnet manager cannot run inside a VM.
InfiniBand SR-IOV Architecture Models--Virtual Switch (vSwitch)
[0085] FIG. 5 shows an exemplary vSwitch architecture, in
accordance with an embodiment. As depicted in the figure, a host
400 (e.g., a host channel adapter) can interact with a hypervisor
410, which can assign the various virtual functions 430, 440, 450,
to a number of virtual machines. As well, the physical function can
be handled by the hypervisor 410. A virtual switch 415 can also be
handled by the hypervisor 401.
[0086] In accordance with an embodiment, in a vSwitch architecture
each virtual function 430, 440, 450 is a complete virtual Host
Channel Adapter (vHCA), meaning that the VM assigned to a VF is
assigned a complete set of IB addresses (e.g., GID, GUID, LID) and
a dedicated QP space in the hardware. For the rest of the network
and the SM, the HCA 400 looks like a switch, via the virtual switch
415, with additional nodes connected to it. The hypervisor 410 can
use the PF 420, and the VMs (attached to the virtual functions) can
use the VFs.
[0087] In accordance with an embodiment, a vSwitch architecture
provides transparent virtualization. However, because each virtual
function is assigned a unique LID, the number of available LIDs
gets consumed rapidly. As well, with many LID addresses in use
(i.e., one each for each physical function and each virtual
function), more communication paths have to be computed by the SM
and more Subnet Management Packets (SMPs) have to be sent to the
switches in order to update their LFTs. For example, the
computation of the communication paths might take several minutes
in large networks. Because LID space is limited to 49151 unicast
LIDs, and as each VM (via a VF), physical node, and switch occupies
one LID each, the number of physical nodes and switches in the
network limits the number of active VMs, and vice versa.
InfiniBand SR-IOV Architecture Models--Virtual Port (vPort)
[0088] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary vPort concept, in accordance with
an embodiment. As depicted in the figure, a host 300 (e.g., a host
channel adapter) can interact with a hypervisor 410, which can
assign the various virtual functions 330, 340, 350, to a number of
virtual machines. As well, the physical function can be handled by
the hypervisor 310.
[0089] In accordance with an embodiment, the vPort concept is
loosely defined in order to give freedom of implementation to
vendors (e.g. the definition does not rule that the implementation
has to be SRIOV specific), and a goal of the vPort is to
standardize the way VMs are handled in subnets. With the vPort
concept, both SR-IOV Shared-Port-like and vSwitch-like
architectures or a combination of both, that can be more scalable
in both the space and performance domains, can be defined. A vPort
supports optional LIDs, and unlike the Shared-Port, the SM is aware
of all the vPorts available in a subnet even if a vPort is not
using a dedicated LID.
InfiniBand SR-IOV Architecture Models--vSwitch with Prepopulated
LIDs
[0090] In accordance with an embodiment, the present disclosure
provides a system and method for providing a vSwitch architecture
with prepopulated LIDs.
[0091] FIG. 7 shows an exemplary vSwitch architecture with
prepopulated LIDs, in accordance with an embodiment. As depicted in
the figure, a number of switches 501-504 can provide communication
within the network switched environment 600 (e.g., an IB subnet)
between members of a fabric, such as an InfiniBand fabric. The
fabric can include a number of hardware devices, such as host
channel adapters 510, 520, 530. Each of the host channel adapters
510, 520, 530, can in turn interact with a hypervisor 511, 521, and
531, respectively. Each hypervisor can, in turn, in conjunction
with the host channel adapter it interacts with, setup and assign a
number of virtual functions 514, 515, 516, 524, 525, 526, 534, 535,
536, to a number of virtual machines. For example, virtual machine
1 550 can be assigned by the hypervisor 511 to virtual function 1
514. Hypervisor 511 can additionally assign virtual machine 2 551
to virtual function 2 515, and virtual machine 3 552 to virtual
function 3 516. Hypervisor 531 can, in turn, assign virtual machine
4 553 to virtual function 1 534. The hypervisors can access the
host channel adapters through a fully featured physical function
513, 523, 533, on each of the host channel adapters.
[0092] In accordance with an embodiment, each of the switches
501-504 can comprise a number of ports (not shown), which are used
in setting a linear forwarding table in order to direct traffic
within the network switched environment 600.
[0093] In accordance with an embodiment, the virtual switches 512,
522, and 532, can be handled by their respective hypervisors 511,
521, 531. In such a vSwitch architecture each virtual function is a
complete virtual Host Channel Adapter (vHCA), meaning that the VM
assigned to a VF is assigned a complete set of IB addresses (e.g.,
GID, GUID, LID) and a dedicated QP space in the hardware. For the
rest of the network and the SM (not shown), the HCAs 510, 520, and
530 look like a switch, via the virtual switches, with additional
nodes connected to them.
[0094] In accordance with an embodiment, the present disclosure
provides a system and method for providing a vSwitch architecture
with prepopulated LIDs. Referring to FIG. 8, the LIDs are
prepopulated to the various physical functions 513, 523, 533, as
well as the virtual functions 514-516, 524-526, 534-536 (even those
virtual functions not currently associated with an active virtual
machine). For example, physical function 513 is prepopulated with
LID 1, while virtual function 1 534 is prepopulated with LID 10.
The LIDs are prepopulated in an SR-IOV vSwitch-enabled subnet when
the network is booted. Even when not all of the VFs are occupied by
VMs in the network, the populated VFs are assigned with a LID as
shown in FIG. 7.
[0095] In accordance with an embodiment, much like physical host
channel adapters can have more than one port (two ports are common
for redundancy), virtual HCAs can also be represented with two
ports and be connected via one, two or more virtual switches to the
external IB subnet.
[0096] In accordance with an embodiment, in a vSwitch architecture
with prepopulated LIDs, each hypervisor can consume one LID for
itself through the PF and one more LID for each additional VF. The
sum of all the VFs available in all hypervisors in an IB subnet,
gives the maximum amount of VMs that are allowed to run in the
subnet. For example, in an IB subnet with 16 virtual functions per
hypervisor in the subnet, then each hypervisor consumes 17 LIDs
(one LID for each of the 16 virtual functions plus one LID for the
physical function) in the subnet. In such an IB subnet, the
theoretical hypervisor limit for a single subnet is ruled by the
number of available unicast LIDs and is: 2891 (49151 available LIDs
divided by 17 LIDs per hypervisor), and the total number of VMs
(i.e., the limit) is 46256 (2891 hypervisors times 16 VFs per
hypervisor). (In actuality, these numbers are actually smaller
since each switch, router, or dedicated SM node in the IB subnet
consumes a LID as well). Note that the vSwitch does not need to
occupy an additional LID as it can share the LID with the PF
[0097] In accordance with an embodiment, in a vSwitch architecture
with prepopulated LIDs, communication paths are computed for all
the LIDs the first time the network is booted. When a new VM needs
to be started the system does not have to add a new LID in the
subnet, an action that would otherwise cause a complete
reconfiguration of the network, including path recalculation, which
is the most time consuming part. Instead, an available port for a
VM is located (i.e., an available virtual function) in one of the
hypervisors and the virtual machine is attached to the available
virtual function.
[0098] In accordance with an embodiment, a vSwitch architecture
with prepopulated LIDs also allows for the ability to calculate and
use different paths to reach different VMs hosted by the same
hypervisor. Essentially, this allows for such subnets and networks
to use a LID Mask Control (LMC) like feature to provide alternative
paths towards one physical machine, without being bound by the
limitation of the LMC that requires the LIDs to be sequential. The
freedom to use non-sequential LIDs is particularly useful when a VM
needs to be migrated and carry its associated LID to the
destination.
[0099] In accordance with an embodiment, along with the benefits
shown above of a vSwitch architecture with prepopulated LIDs,
certain considerations can be taken into account. For example,
because the LIDs are prepopulated in an SR-IOV vSwitch-enabled
subnet when the network is booted, the initial path computation
(e.g., on boot-up) can take longer than if the LIDs were not
pre-populated.
InfiniBand SR-IOV Architecture Models--vSwitch with Dynamic LID
Assionment
[0100] In accordance with an embodiment, the present disclosure
provides a system and method for providing a vSwitch architecture
with dynamic LID assignment.
[0101] FIG. 8 shows an exemplary vSwitch architecture with dynamic
LID assignment, in accordance with an embodiment. As depicted in
the figure, a number of switches 501-504 can provide communication
within the network switched environment 700 (e.g., an IB subnet)
between members of a fabric, such as an InfiniBand fabric. The
fabric can include a number of hardware devices, such as host
channel adapters 510, 520, 530. Each of the host channel adapters
510, 520, 530, can in turn interact with a hypervisor 511, 521,
531, respectively. Each hypervisor can, in turn, in conjunction
with the host channel adapter it interacts with, setup and assign a
number of virtual functions 514-516, 524-526, 534-536, to a number
of virtual machines. For example, virtual machine 1 550 can be
assigned by the hypervisor 511 to virtual function 1 514.
Hypervisor 511 can additionally assign virtual machine 2 551 to
virtual function 2 515, and virtual machine 3 552 to virtual
function 3 516. Hypervisor 531 can, in turn, assign virtual machine
4 553 to virtual function 1 534. The hypervisors can access the
host channel adapters through a fully featured physical function
513, 523, 533, on each of the host channel adapters.
[0102] In accordance with an embodiment, each of the switches
501-504 can comprise a number of ports (not shown), which are used
in setting a linear forwarding table in order to direct traffic
within the network switched environment 700.
[0103] In accordance with an embodiment, the virtual switches 512,
522, and 532, can be handled by their respective hypervisors 511,
521, 531. In such a vSwitch architecture each virtual function is a
complete virtual Host Channel Adapter (vHCA), meaning that the VM
assigned to a VF is assigned a complete set of IB addresses (e.g.,
GID, GUID, LID) and a dedicated QP space in the hardware. For the
rest of the network and the SM (not shown), the HCAs 510, 520, and
530 look like a switch, via the virtual switches, with additional
nodes connected to them.
[0104] In accordance with an embodiment, the present disclosure
provides a system and method for providing a vSwitch architecture
with dynamic LID assignment. Referring to FIG. 8, the LIDs are
dynamically assigned to the various physical functions 513, 523,
533, with physical function 513 receiving LID 1, physical function
523 receiving LID 2, and physical function 533 receiving LID 3.
Those virtual functions that are associated with an active virtual
machine can also receive a dynamically assigned LID. For example,
because virtual machine 1 550 is active and associated with virtual
function 1 514, virtual function 514 can be assigned LID 5.
Likewise, virtual function 2 515, virtual function 3 516, and
virtual function 1 534 are each associated with an active virtual
function. Because of this, these virtual functions are assigned
LIDs, with LID 7 being assigned to virtual function 2 515, LID 11
being assigned to virtual function 3 516, and LID 9 being assigned
to virtual function 1 534. Unlike vSwitch with prepopulated LIDs,
those virtual functions 524-526 and 534-536 not currently
associated with an active virtual machine do not receive a LID
assignment.
[0105] In accordance with an embodiment, with the dynamic LID
assignment, the initial path computation can be substantially
reduced. When the network is booting for the first time and no VMs
are present then a relatively small number of LIDs can be used for
the initial path calculation and LFT distribution.
[0106] In accordance with an embodiment, much like physical host
channel adapters can have more than one port (two ports are common
for redundancy), virtual HCAs can also be represented with two
ports and be connected via one, two or more virtual switches to the
external IB subnet.
[0107] In accordance with an embodiment, when a new VM is created
in a system utilizing vSwitch with dynamic LID assignment, a free
VM slot is found in order to decide on which hypervisor to boot the
newly added VM, and a unique non-used unicast LID is found as well.
However, there are no known paths in the network and the LFTs of
the switches for handling the newly added LID. Computing a new set
of paths in order to handle the newly added VM is not desirable in
a dynamic environment where several VMs may be booted every minute.
In large IB subnets, computing a new set of routes can take several
minutes, and this procedure would have to repeat each time a new VM
is booted.
[0108] Advantageously, in accordance with an embodiment, because
all the VFs in a hypervisor share the same uplink with the PF,
there is no need to compute a new set of routes. It is only needed
to iterate through the LFTs of all the physical switches in the
network, copy the forwarding port from the LID entry that belongs
to the PF of the hypervisor--where the VM is created--to the newly
added LID, and send a single SMP to update the corresponding LFT
block of the particular switch. Thus the system and method avoids
the need to compute a new set of routes.
[0109] In accordance with an embodiment, the LIDs assigned in the
vSwitch with dynamic LID assignment architecture do not have to be
sequential. When comparing the LIDs assigned on VMs on each
hypervisor in vSwitch with prepopulated LIDs versus vSwitch with
dynamic LID assignment, it is notable that the LIDs assigned in the
dynamic LID assignment architecture are non-sequential, while those
prepopulated in are sequential in nature. In the vSwitch dynamic
LID assignment architecture, when a new VM is created, the next
available LID is used throughout the lifetime of the VM.
Conversely, in a vSwitch with prepopulated LIDs, each VM inherits
the LID that is already assigned to the corresponding VF, and in a
network without live migrations, VMs consecutively attached to a
given VF get the same LID.
[0110] In accordance with an embodiment, the vSwitch with dynamic
LID assignment architecture can resolve the drawbacks of the
vSwitch with prepopulated LIDs architecture model at a cost of some
additional network and runtime SM overhead. Each time a VM is
created, the LFTs of the physical switches in the subnet are
updated with the newly added LID associated with the created VM.
One subnet management packet (SMP) per switch is needed to be sent
for this operation. The LMC-like functionality is also not
available, because each VM is using the same path as its host
hypervisor. However, there is no limitation on the total amount of
VFs present in all hypervisors, and the number of VFs may exceed
that of the unicast LID limit. Of course, not all of the VFs are
allowed to be attached on active VMs simultaneously if this is the
case, but having more spare hypervisors and VFs adds flexibility
for disaster recovery and optimization of fragmented networks when
operating close to the unicast LID limit.
InfiniBand SR-IOV Architecture Models--vSwitch with Dynamic LID
Assionment and Prepopulated LIDs
[0111] FIG. 9 shows an exemplary vSwitch architecture with vSwitch
with dynamic LID assignment and prepopulated LIDs, in accordance
with an embodiment. As depicted in the figure, a number of switches
501-504 can provide communication within the network switched
environment 800 (e.g., an IB subnet) between members of a fabric,
such as an InfiniBand fabric. The fabric can include a number of
hardware devices, such as host channel adapters 510, 520, 530. Each
of the host channel adapters 510, 520, 530, can in turn interact
with a hypervisor 511, 521, and 531, respectively. Each hypervisor
can, in turn, in conjunction with the host channel adapter it
interacts with, setup and assign a number of virtual functions 514,
515, 516, 524, 525, 526, 534, 535, 536, to a number of virtual
machines. For example, virtual machine 1 550 can be assigned by the
hypervisor 511 to virtual function 1 514. Hypervisor 511 can
additionally assign virtual machine 2 551 to virtual function 2
515. Hypervisor 521 can assign virtual machine 3 552 to virtual
function 3 526. Hypervisor 531 can, in turn, assign virtual machine
4 553 to virtual function 2 535. The hypervisors can access the
host channel adapters through a fully featured physical function
513, 523, 533, on each of the host channel adapters.
[0112] In accordance with an embodiment, each of the switches
501-504 can comprise a number of ports (not shown), which are used
in setting a linear forwarding table in order to direct traffic
within the network switched environment 800.
[0113] In accordance with an embodiment, the virtual switches 512,
522, and 532, can be handled by their respective hypervisors 511,
521, 531. In such a vSwitch architecture each virtual function is a
complete virtual Host Channel Adapter (vHCA), meaning that the VM
assigned to a VF is assigned a complete set of IB addresses (e.g.,
GID, GUID, LID) and a dedicated QP space in the hardware. For the
rest of the network and the SM (not shown), the HCAs 510, 520, and
530 look like a switch, via the virtual switches, with additional
nodes connected to them.
[0114] In accordance with an embodiment, the present disclosure
provides a system and method for providing a hybrid vSwitch
architecture with dynamic LID assignment and prepopulated LIDs.
Referring to FIG. 9, hypervisor 511 can be arranged with vSwitch
with prepopulated LIDs architecture, while hypervisor 521 can be
arranged with vSwitch with prepopulated LIDs and dynamic LID
assignment. Hypervisor 531 can be arranged with vSwitch with
dynamic LID assignment. Thus, the physical function 513 and virtual
functions 514-516 have their LIDs prepopulated (i.e., even those
virtual functions not attached to an active virtual machine are
assigned a LID). Physical function 523 and virtual function 1 524
can have their LIDs prepopulated, while virtual function 2 and 3,
525 and 526, have their LIDs dynamically assigned (i.e., virtual
function 2 525 is available for dynamic LID assignment, and virtual
function 3 526 has a LID of 11 dynamically assigned as virtual
machine 3 552 is attached). Finally, the functions (physical
function and virtual functions) associated with hypervisor 3 531
can have their LIDs dynamically assigned. This results in virtual
functions 1 and 3, 534 and 536, are available for dynamic LID
assignment, while virtual function 2 535 has LID of 9 dynamically
assigned as virtual machine 4 553 is attached there.
[0115] In accordance with an embodiment, such as that depicted in
FIG. 8, where both vSwitch with prepopulated LIDs and vSwitch with
dynamic LID assignment are utilized (independently or in
combination within any given hypervisor), the number of
prepopulated LIDs per host channel adapter can be defined by a
fabric administrator and can be in the range of 0<=prepopulated
VFs<=Total VFs (per host channel adapter), and the VFs available
for dynamic LID assignment can be found by subtracting the number
of prepopulated VFs from the total number of VFs (per host channel
adapter).
[0116] In accordance with an embodiment, much like physical host
channel adapters can have more than one port (two ports are common
for redundancy), virtual HCAs can also be represented with two
ports and be connected via one, two or more virtual switches to the
external IB subnet.
InfiniBand--Inter-Subnet Communication (Fabric Manager)
[0117] In accordance with an embodiment, in addition to providing
an InfiniBand fabric within a single subnet, embodiments of the
current disclosure can also provide for an InfiniBand fabric that
spans two or more subnets.
[0118] FIG. 10 shows an exemplary multi-subnet InfiniBand fabric,
in accordance with an embodiment. As depicted in the figure, within
subnet A 1000, a number of switches 1001-1004 can provide
communication within subnet A 1000 (e.g., an IB subnet) between
members of a fabric, such as an InfiniBand fabric. The fabric can
include a number of hardware devices, such as, for example, host
channel adapter 1010. Host channel adapter 1010 can in turn
interact with a hypervisor 1011. The hypervisor can, in turn, in
conjunction with the host channel adapter it interacts with, setup
a number of virtual functions 1014. The hypervisor can additionally
assign virtual machines to each of the virtual functions, such as
virtual machine 1 10105 being assigned to virtual function 1 1014.
The hypervisor can access their associated host channel adapters
through a fully featured physical function, such as physical
function 1013, on each of the host channel adapters. Within subnet
B 1040, a number of switches 1021-1024 can provide communication
within subnet B 1040 (e.g., an IB subnet) between members of a
fabric, such as an InfiniBand fabric. The fabric can include a
number of hardware devices, such as, for example, host channel
adapter 1030. Host channel adapter 1030 can in turn interact with a
hypervisor 1031. The hypervisor can, in turn, in conjunction with
the host channel adapter it interacts with, setup a number of
virtual functions 1034. The hypervisor can additionally assign
virtual machines to each of the virtual functions, such as virtual
machine 2 1035 being assigned to virtual function 2 1034. The
hypervisor can access their associated host channel adapters
through a fully featured physical function, such as physical
function 1033, on each of the host channel adapters. It is noted
that although only one host channel adapter is shown within each
subnet (i.e., subnet A and subnet B), it is to be understood that a
plurality of host channel adapters, and their corresponding
components, can be included within each subnet.
[0119] In accordance with an embodiment, each of the host channel
adapters can additionally be associated with a virtual switch, such
as virtual switch 1012 and virtual switch 1032, and each HCA can be
set up with a different architecture model, as discussed above.
Although both subnets within FIG. 10 are shown as using a vSwitch
with prepopulated LID architecture model, this is not meant to
imply that all such subnet configurations must follow a similar
architecture model.
[0120] In accordance with an embodiment, at least one switch within
each subnet can be associated with a router, such as switch 1002
within subnet A 1000 being associated with router 1005, and switch
1021 within subnet B 1040 being associated with router 1006.
[0121] In accordance with an embodiment, at least one device (e.g.,
a switch, a node . . . etc.) can be associated with a fabric
manager (not shown). The fabric manager can be used, for example,
to discover inter-subnet fabric topology, created a fabric profile
(e.g., a virtual machine fabric profile), build a virtual machine
related database objects that forms the basis for building a
virtual machine fabric profile. In addition, the fabric manager can
define legal inter-subnet connectivity in terms of which subnets
are allowed to communicate via which router ports using which
partition numbers.
[0122] In accordance with an embodiment, when traffic at an
originating source, such as virtual machine 1 within subnet A, is
addressed to a destination at a different subnet, such as virtual
machine 2 within subnet B, the traffic can be addressed to the
router within subnet A, i.e., router 1005, which can then pass the
traffic to subnet B via its link with router 1006.
[0123] Overall, an example embodiment provides a very large fabric
with many nodes and, further provides for multiple subnets each
having a subnet boundary. The subnet boundaries enable independent
subnet managers (SM). In particular, the subnet boundaries enable
one independent SM in/for each of the multiple subnets within the
very large fabric.
[0124] In addition, very efficient packet routing is enabled by the
use of the simple lookup mechanism of the Linear Forwarding Table
(LFT) lookup protocol in order to route the packet flow in a unique
way throughout the whole fabric.
Local/Intra-Subnet Routing:
[0125] For Layer 2 (L2) addressing, the example embodiment uses the
"normal" local id based routing/forwarding within each subnet. That
is, the 16-bit Destination Local Identifier (DLID) in the Local
Route Header (LRH) of the IB Packet is looked up when it is being
routed at the switch port and, the output port is quickly found by
directly indexing the LFT in hardware using the DLID value in the
LRH of the IB packet.
Layer 3 (L3) Address/Addressing:
[0126] The Global Route Header (GRH) of packets in the example
embodiments essentially use the 128-bit scheme: the unique 64-bit
node address--the "GUID," and the 64-bit Subnet Prefix Number. The
example embodiment provides for a very large fabric that is divided
into many independent subnets, wherein the same route/routing
capabilities are enabled spanning different subnets. That is, in
the example embodiment, the path between endpoints can be routed in
the same way as if there was a large single subnet.
[0127] In virtual machines (VMs), the physical end nodes can
represent a large number of virtual endpoints, wherein each of the
virtual endpoints have (and should have for legacy compatibility
reasons) their own complete IB address including the 16-bit DLID.
However, the 16-bit DLID space becomes exhausted quickly.
Essentially, there is more space in each virtual subnet than there
is address space-pointing capability using the 16-bit DLID.
[0128] In accordance with the example embodiment, therefore, the
total fabric is divided into a set of independent subnets, a
private "LID space" is provided, and a mechanism is provided for
extracting a designated bit-field from the 64-bit Subnet Prefix
Number portion of the L3 address. In accordance with the mechanism
of the example embodiment, instead of using the entire 64-bits of
the L3 address to encode the subnet number, the subject embodiment
provides hardware support for extracting a designated
bit-field--the ISRN--from the 64-bit Subnet Prefix Number portion
of the L3 address. Accordingly, when there is to be communication
from (virtual) Subnet A to (virtual) Subnet B through an
intermediate infrastructure, the example embodiment encodes in the
designated bit-field of the 64-bit Subnet Prefix Number portion of
the L3 address both: [0129] a) the LID in/of the destination
subnet; and [0130] b) an "intermediate" LID of an "intermediate
switch fabric" infrastructure.
Global Route Header (GRH) Based Linear Forwarding Table (LFT)
Lookup
[0131] In order to reduce the amount of switch/router on-chip
resources required to enable scalable, flexible and deterministic
routing/forwarding for both intra-subnet and inter-subnet traffic
within a single fabric configuration with coordinated management of
routing/forwarding throughout the whole IB fabric, a scheme is used
in accordance with an embodiment for identifying inter-subnet
routes via numbers that are used for linear table lookup in a
manner the same as LID-based table lookup within a single subnet.
In this regard, FIG. 11 shows an illustration of a data packet
format using the InfiniBand (IB) addressing scheme to access a data
service in a network environment, in accordance with an embodiment.
As shown in the figure, a first IB subnet 1100 can include a
plurality of physical (or virtual) nodes 1101 and 1102 and a subnet
administrator (SA) 1120. A source node 1101 within the first IB
subnet 1100 can send a packet (e.g. an IB packet 1110) to a
destination node 1103 in a second IB subnet other than the first IB
subnet 1100, via an intermediate node 1102. The destination node
1103 is shown in dashed lines to represent that it is in the second
IB subnet.
[0132] The IB packet 1110 can include the payload 1114 and various
headers according to the IB protocols. These headers can include a
global routing header (GRH) 1111, a local routing header (LRH)
1112, and other headers 1113. Additionally, the IB packet 1110 can
be applied with various cyclic redundancy checks (CRCs) 1115.
[0133] In accordance with an embodiment, the system can take
advantage of a subnet prefix portion of the destination global
identifier (DGID) 1121 in the GRH 1111 and the destination local
identifier (DLID) 1122 in the LRH 1112 for supporting intra- and
inter-subnet addressing in the first IB subnet 1100 and the second
IB subnet.
[0134] For example, the system can set the DLID 1122 in the IB
packet 1110 to be the DLID for the intermediate node 1102 (instead
of the DLID for the destination node 1103). Within the IB subnet
1100, the IB packet 1110 can be routed via linear forwarding table
LFT lookup to the intermediate node 1102 based on the DLID 1122 as
resolved by the SA 1120. Thus, the IB packet 1110 can be processed
using a data service provided on the intermediate node 1102.
Similar data services can be provided in the other nodes 1101 and
1103 as well as may be necessary or desired.
[0135] Furthermore, the system can use selected portions of the
DGID 1121 in the GRH 1111 to indicate the DLID for the destination
node 1103. Thus, the data service software in the intermediate node
1102 is able to resolve (or obtain) the real DLID for the
destination node 1103 based on the DGID 1121 information in the GRH
1111.
[0136] In accordance with an embodiment, the intermediate node 1102
can perform additional packet header 1113 and/or payload 1114
modifications when necessary. For example, the fabric level access
control can be set up in a way that the source node 1101 and the
destination node 1103 are either limited members of a relevant
partition or not members of the same partition. In such a case, the
intermediate node 1102 may be allowed to change the P_Key value in
the IB packet 1110 before forwarding the modified packet to the
destination node 1103.
Allowing Multiple GID Subnet Prefix Values Concurrently for
Incoming IB Packets
[0137] The InfiniBand (IB) Specification requires that Host Channel
Adapters (HCAs) are able to receive packets with GRH where the
subnet prefix 1131 of the Destination GID (DGID) 1121 of the
incoming GRH 1111 is either a default prefix or a single prefix
that has been assigned to the relevant HCA port by the local Subnet
Manager (SM). This allows flexibility in terms of allowing a subnet
to migrate from using the default prefix to using an assigned
prefix. However, this provision of the IB specification does not
resolve the issue of changing the assigned prefix value dynamically
at run time, nor does it allow a global fabric implementation to
use multiple subnet prefix values in order to control the routing
for one or more end-nodes that each have one or more fixed GUID
values such as described above, for example, with reference to the
example embodiment. Accordingly, an example embodiment herein
allows multiple GID subnet prefix values concurrently for incoming
IB packets.
[0138] In accordance with an example embodiment, by extending the
ability to accept both the IB Specification default subnet prefix
1131 as well as the single end port subnet prefix value assigned by
the Subnet Manager (SM) also together with the ability to
selectively ignore the subnet prefix value 1131, a HCA
implementation of the example embodiment supports both dynamic
updates of the subnet prefix as well as the use of multiple prefix
values to represent multiple paths through the fabric and further
as well as dynamic updates of such paths without impacting existing
data connections/flows.
[0139] This flexible scheme preferably is based on the relevant
router ports representing ingress paths to the local subnet to
control that incoming subnet prefix values are acceptable for the
local subnet.
[0140] In accordance with an example embodiment, the assignment of
GUIDs to end-nodes in the various subnets have either a subnet
local scope, or are based on use of the globally unique EUI-64
values of the GRH. In the first (local scope) case, the uniqueness
of a DGID depends on that the subnet prefix 1131 values are not the
same for two identical destination GUIDs In the second (global
scope) case, no dependency on the prefix uniquely identifying the
relevant destination port is required.
[0141] FIG. 11 shows the DGID portion 1121 of the exemplary packet
1100 including subnet prefix forwarding portion 1131 including an
Inter-Subnet-Route-Number (ISRN) 1141 used in accordance with an
embodiment together with a Target Subnet Number 1142 and a Target
LID 1143. The ISRN 1141 allows the same linear forwarding tables
(LFTs) to be used by fabric switches configured in accordance with
an embodiment for making both intra-subnet forwarding decisions as
well as for making inter-subnet forwarding decisions. The
embodiment supports both fabric local/internal subnet numbers as
well as "global" subnet numbers so that inter-subnet traffic within
a single fabric configuration can use a different subnet prefix
value than traffic between different fabrics.
[0142] In order to enable the end-to-end route be completely
defined in the packet headers without any need to do any mapping
from GRH.DGID to DLID at any point along the path from source to
final destination, an embodiment provides a GRH.DGID.subnetprefix
format that includes both the Inter Subnet Route Number, a target
"fabric local subnet number" as well as the destination LID value
in the target subnet.
[0143] A scheme or protocol of forwarding domains associated with
switch/router ports is supported in an example embodiment wherein
each forwarding domain type defines which address information is
used for lookup in the LFTs, as well as if a change in forwarding
domain type implies that the local route header should be updated
with DLID values from the GRH.
[0144] The above DGID.subnetprefix format is used in accordance
with an embodiment in order to support a three level forwarding
domain structure with a source subnet, an intermediate switch
fabric and a target subnet. The source and intermediate nodes 1101,
1102 in the source subnet 1100 use the initial LRH.DLID of the
packet 1100 for linear forwarding table (LFT) lookup, whereas the
transition to the destination node 1103 in the intermediate switch
fabric implies that the Inter Subnet Route Number 1141 of the
subnet prefix forwarding portion 1131 used for LFT lookup. The
intermediate switch fabric may be referred to herein also as "core
fabric" for convenience.
[0145] In order to indicate that a packet is being forwarded within
an intermediate switch fabric type forwarding domain, a special
DLID value is used in accordance with an embodiment, wherein the
special DLID value can be matched against a value stored in a
register in the ingress switch port. The special DLID value
represents a "Special Switch Port" wherein the special switch port
defines an "end" of a local virtual subnet. This allows the single
LFT lookup operation to be based on the relevant section of the
GRH.DGID.subnetprefix rather than the LRH.DLID value.
[0146] In accordance with an embodiment and in order to be able
determine when a change of forwarding domain is to take place, each
ingress switch port includes one or more registers with type status
for each possible egress port in the same switch node so that the
packet processing in the ingress path can prepare the packet for
the next forwarding domain if the target port looked up in the LFT
represents a change of forwarding domain type.
[0147] In accordance with the example embodiment, in the case where
the IB packet 1110 is intra-subnet transferring from a port within
the source subnet 1100 such as from a port at the source node 1101
to a port also within the source subnet 1100 such as to a port at
the intermediate node 1102, the LRH.DLID of the packet is directly
used to index a LFT at each switch for standard intra-subnet packet
transfer.
[0148] Further in accordance with the example embodiment, in the
case where the IB packet 1110 is inter-subnet transferring from a
port within the source subnet 1100 such as from a port at the
source node 1101 to the intermediate switch fabric outside of the
source subnet 1100, the DLID 1122 portion of the Local Route Header
1112 of the packet 1110 is updated locally to a value that is
configured to represent intermediate switch fabric forwarding in
the relevant intermediate switch fabric outside of the source
subnet 1100.
[0149] In accordance with yet a further example embodiment and with
continued reference to FIG. 11, in the case where the IB packet is
inter-subnet transferring from the intermediate switch fabric
outside of the source subnet 1100 such as from the destination node
1103 to the target source subnet 1100 such as to either the source
node 1101 or the intermediate node 1102, the LRH.DLID is updated
with the DLID field from the DGID.subnetprefix and is then used to
forward the packet to the final destination port using LFT lookup
in the target source subnet 1100. In this transition, it is also
possible to verify that the target local subnet number in the
packet GRH.DGID.subnetprefix is matched with local subnet number
that this port represents. This checking is preferably based on a
register in each such port.
[0150] In an example embodiment, any switch port can represent a
"gateway" between the local (source) subnet and the intermediate
switch fabric and each such gateway switch port is identified with
one or more specific DLIDs in the local subnet. It is therefore
possible to implement fat-tree based topologies where multiple
parallel core-fabrics can exist. In this way the addressing
scalability of the complete fabric can scale with the topology
since each parallel core fabric can represent an independently
routed domain. The 48K LFT size is then only a limitation within
each of these parallel core fabrics, and the number of individual
"inter subnet route numbers" within the complete core fabric is 48K
times the number of parallel core fabrics.
[0151] In addition and in accordance with an embodiment, in order
to able to handle "random" connectivity between different fabric
configurations with independent management of internal routes, an
embodiment provides a support scheme for supporting both fabric
local/internal subnet numbers as well as "global" subnet numbers so
that inter-subnet traffic within a single fabric configuration can
use a different subnet prefix value than traffic between different
fabrics. The support scheme also provides TCAM based lookup and
mapping of complete DGID values in order to allow forwarding of
arbitrary subnet prefix and GUID values.
Fabric Model
[0152] As an overview of the core fabric model in accordance with
the example embodiment, the IB fabric configuration facilitates
scaling to very large fat-tree configurations that can be
decomposed into individual subnets, while still maintaining the
flexibility of being able to explicitly route individual paths for
individual physical or virtual destinations. The system is
constructed as a single fabric configuration that is managed in a
hierarchical manner, but where a top level management entity has
full visibility of the complete fabric.
[0153] In order to provide large system construction flexibility
while still supporting native IB connectivity between different
independently managed systems, the fabric model of the example
embodiment enables "arbitrary" IB connectivity between different
fabric configurations/topologies that are not managed by the same
single top level entity.
[0154] The example embodiment encodes path/route information as
part of the subnet prefix portion 1131 of the DGID field in the
packet GRH for achieving the above goals and also for providing
inter-subnet communication within a single fabric configuration.
The example embodiment also supports a standard subnet prefix
scheme that enable IB-IB routing between independent IB
fabrics.
[0155] In addition to scaling to very large configurations with
hundreds or thousands of physical hosts, the system of an example
embodiment also facilitates use of very small subnet configurations
where a single integrated circuit chip may be used to implement
multiple virtual switches that each represent a different IB subnet
managed by a different set of Subnet Managers (SMs). In addition,
even for very large total fabric configurations, such small subnet
configurations may still be used as necessary or desired in order
to reflect the desired decomposition into logical system units. On
the other hand, some configurations may have very large single
subnet topologies that are still part of a larger single
fabric.
[0156] In general, the need for flexibility in up-scaling as well
as down-scaling imposes a challenge in terms of system on-chip
resources for handling packet routing and forwarding decisions.
This includes both intra-subnet and inter-subnet forwarding, and in
particular the ability to address individual virtual end-points in
different subnets.
[0157] Embodiments herein provide schemes for reducing the amount
of system on-chip resources required to enable scalable, flexible
and deterministic routing/forwarding for both intra-subnet and
inter-subnet traffic within a single fabric configuration. In
particular, an "Inter-Subnet-Route-Number" (ISRN) can be used for
identifying inter-subnet routes via numbers that can be used for
table lookup in a manner similar to LID based table lookup within a
single subnet. In addition, otherwise standard or "legacy" linear
forwarding tables are used for both intra- and inter-subnet
forwarding decisions. For example, FIG. 12 shows a portion of a
Linear Forwarding Table (LFT) 1200 that may be indexed from 0-48 k
equivalently by either the LRH.DLID value or by the ISRN value. In
the LFT 1200 illustrated, each entry in the table contains either a
supported port number or a "0xFF" entry representing an entry not
used. In further addition, both fabric local/internal subnet
numbers as well as "global" subnet numbers are supported so that
inter-subnet traffic within a single fabric configuration can use a
different subnet prefix value than traffic between different
fabrics. Yet still further, a GRH.DGID.subnetprefix format is
provided and supported. In the example embodiment, the
GRH.DGID.subnetprefix format includes both an "inter subnet route
number", a target "fabric local subnet number" as well as the
destination LID value in the target subnet in order to enable the
end-to-end route be completely defined in the packet headers
without any need to do any mapping from GRH.DGID to DLID at any
point along the path from source to final destination.
[0158] Leaf-switch based forwarding is provided in order to allow a
hierarchical topology with "randomized" multi-path forwarding
between individual subnets. In addition, in order to able to handle
"random" connectivity between different fabric configurations, the
example embodiment supports both fabric local/internal subnet
numbers as well as "global" subnet numbers so that inter-subnet
traffic within a single fabric configuration can use a different
subnet prefix value than traffic between different fabrics, and
provides TCAM based lookup and mapping of complete DGID values in
order to allow forwarding of arbitrary subnet prefix and GUID
values.
Local Fabric
[0159] In accordance with an embodiment, a "Local Fabric" is a
physical IB fabric infrastructure that represents connectivity
within and between one or more physical "leaf subnet" and/or "core
fabric" topologies. Local fabrics are managed in a hierarchical
manner, but with the constraint that a top-level central management
entity such as for example control-plane software, is capable of
managing any ID value assignment and observe both physical
connectivity and routing (packet forwarding) constraints throughout
the complete local fabric (i.e. a "holistic view" of the local
fabric).
Remote Fabric
[0160] In accordance with an embodiment, a "Remote Fabric" is any
IB fabric topology/infrastructure that is connected to a local
fabric via one or more IB links but where the port on the remote
side of the link is not controlled by the same top level central
management entity as the local fabric. The ports connecting two
independent local fabrics are typically be configured as router
ports. Hence, these two ports form, in accordance with an
embodiment, a minimal IB subnet.
Gateway Subnet
[0161] In accordance with an embodiment, a "Gateway Subnet" is a
"trivial" physical IB subnet that is typically formed by connecting
one router port from one local fabric with exactly one router port
from another local fabric (i.e. no intermediate switch). The
gateway subnet has a trivial configuration that is established at
link-up time and packet forwarding policy is controlled
independently by the routers on each side. The two router ports
implement a mutual discovery protocol in order to learn about the
remote fabric. Alternatively and/or additionally, administrative
input in each local fabric can selectively be used as necessary or
desired to define a set of one or more what remote subnet numbers
and individual GI Ds should be routed through different Gateway
Subnets. An significant aspect of the gateway subnet definition
herein is that it places the boundary between the two top level
administrative domains on an IB link rather than on a router or
switch device that has to be managed.
[0162] More complex Gateway subnets imply that switches within the
gateway subnet also require management and this management
introduces complexity and policy issues that are not present or are
significantly less present in the direct link case. Hence, rather
than having a well-defined owner of each side of a single link, the
question of ownership of the gateway subnet becomes an issue. As
with any large scale networking, it is however possible to imagine
more complex configurations where multiple local fabrics are
connected via one or more other local fabrics (i.e. the admin of
the intermediate local fabric determines how the different
connected remote fabrics are allowed to communicate via this local
fabric. The embodiments herein are applicable to this more complex
gateway model since each local fabric may have connectivity to
multiple other local fabrics. In any case, even with these types of
intermediate local fabrics, the boundary between any pair of local
fabrics is preferably a minimal gateway subnet as defined
above.
Leaf Subnet
[0163] A "Leaf Subnet" is a physical IB subnet that has its own
unicast and multicast LID spaces. Host type end-nodes such as
compute and storage servers are typically connected to the local
fabric via a single leaf subnet. However, a single host may also be
connected with multiple leaf subnets as desired. A leaf subnet is
configured and controlled by one or more cooperating Subnet Manager
(SM) instances and, within a leaf subnet, packets are forwarded
based on LRH.DLID portions of the packet header. A leaf subnet may
consist of legacy switches (e.g. NM2s) or any other proprietary or
other switches, and is identified by an administratively defined
"Identification Subnet Number" (ISN) that represents policy input
to the set of Subnet Managers that are controlling the leaf subnet,
as well as the central top-level management entity. The ISN may be
globally unique, and is preferably unique across all local fabrics
that can be directly connected via IB links, i.e. via the Gateway
Subnets. Each leaf subnet may be connected to one or more "core
fabrics" via ports, and each leaf subnet is associated with at
least one "Fabric Local Subnet Number" (FLSN) when it is connected
to at least one core fabric. The FLSN value has scope for the local
fabric and is allocated by the local fabric management
infrastructure. In addition, a leaf subnet may be connected to
other IB subnets via router ports that do not represent core fabric
connectivity. In the general case, such "global" connectivity
represents connectivity to a remote fabric via a gateway subnet
and, for this kind of global connectivity, the ISN value is used
for DGID based addressing of this leaf subnet from remote
subnets/fabrics. However, it is also possible to connect two leaf
subnets in the same local fabric in this way i.e. without a local
core fabric. This kind of connectivity may use either ISN or FLSN
based DGID addressing. Router port based connectivity directly from
a leaf subnet, either within the local fabric or to a remote
fabric, may involve either system ports or other router
implementations.
Core Fabric
[0164] In accordance with an embodiment, a "Core Fabric" is
topology in accordance with the example embodiment that connects
one or more leaf subnets within the context of a single local
fabric. The expression "intermediate switch fabric" may be used
alternatively herein. In accordance with an embodiment, a core
fabric provides additional connectivity between different sections
of a single leaf subnet such as for example sections that already
have direct connectivity within the same physical subnet. In the
example embodiment, preferably, a single core fabric represents a
single "Inter Subnet Route Number" (ISRN) value space. A single
core fabric can have directly connected end-nodes. A special case
of end-nodes is switch management ports (port 0). These can be
reached via a dedicated ISRN value and requires GRH based
communication. Physical end-nodes connected via physical IB links
and/or system ports in general represent a separate FLSN (or ISN)
value and communication is preferably GRH-based. Such directly
connected end-nodes then in general represent a "trivial" leaf
subnet with only two ports and a single link, i.e. the end-node
port and the relevant system port. It is to be appreciated that, in
the environment of the example embodiment, a directly connected
physical end-node can also be addressed via a dedicated ISRN value
as long as the end-node implementation is able to handle that the
DLID value may not be unique. In order to reduce required value
space since FLSN values in general have to be global for the whole
local fabric, separate FLSN values might selectively not be
allocated for such end-ports.
[0165] A single core fabric, in accordance with an example
embodiment, processes or otherwise handles Direct Route (DR) Subnet
Management Packets (SMPs) in a manner similar to other processing
or handling within a conventional physical IB subnet. In accordance
with an embodiment, however, a single core fabric is configured to
support LID based forwarding as well as ISRN based forwarding.
Accordingly, the total LID value space used is coordinated with the
total ISRN value space used. The coordination includes using
different sections of the same physical LFT resources for both
types of forwarding, and configuring the size of these sections as
a run-time configuration parameter for each system port.
[0166] In an example embodiment, there are no restrictions on
overlapping LID and ISRN values as long as the sum of the two used
value spaces can be supported by the involved hardware components.
Assuming a sufficient LID value space is allocated, both system
Port 0 instances as well as directly connected end-nodes can be
reached via LID based addressing. In this way, a single core fabric
instance can also represent a conventional IB subnet and represent
a destination leaf subnet within a local fabric at the same time as
it is functioning as a core fabric between one or more (other) leaf
subnets.
[0167] In addition, in an example embodiment, a single core fabric
can have direct physical connectivity to one or more other single
core fabrics while still maintaining independent ISRN value spaces
for each such single core fabric. DR SMPs may be used to
communicate between the two core fabric instances without depending
on any other type of forwarding being supported. Based on
coordination of value spaces and reservation of a specific subset
of either LID or ISRN space, communication between all or a subset
of the end nodes in two core fabrics can be allowed or is otherwise
enabled using either LID or ISRN based addressing.
[0168] A single core fabric may have, in an example embodiment, one
or more router ports that represent connectivity to remote fabrics.
That is, they are independent local fabrics without any coordinated
FLSN or ISRN spaces. Such remote connectivity is preferably
implemented using Gateway Subnets. In this case, forwarding of
packets to/from local end nodes or connected leaf subnets is based
on GRHs with ISN based subnet prefix values as well as the
associated GUID value in the DGID field. Such forwarding does not
depend on any specific formats for any part of the DGID, and
instead relies on TCAM based forwarding.
Addressing Mode
[0169] In accordance with an embodiment, the "Addressing Mode" of a
packet defines the particular header information to be used to
determine how the packet should be forwarded from source to
destination. An IB packet may include multiple headers (i.e. LRH
and GRH) that contain information about how the packet should be
forwarded from source to destination. Thus, the addressing mode of
a packet defines what such information to be used for the next
forwarding decision.
[0170] In an example embodiment, the relevant addressing modes in
this context includes the following: [0171] LRH/DLID Addressing
Mode; [0172] GRH/ISRN Addressing Mode; [0173] GRH/LeafSwitch
Addressing Mode; and [0174] GRH/DGID Addressing Mode.
Forwarding Mode
[0175] In accordance with an embodiment, "Forwarding Mode" applies
to switch ports that perform the packet forwarding decisions. While
the "addressing mode" concept applies to the headers of an IB
packet, the switch ports that perform forwarding decisions operate
in a "forwarding mode" that corresponds to some packet addressing
mode. A switch port may support more than one addressing mode
concurrently. Hence, in order to allow a switch port to select the
correct forwarding mode for a particular packet, the packet may
have to contain information that allows the switch port to
deterministically determine the addressing mode. Such information
includes both DGID type information as well as special DLID values
that have been reserved to denote a specific forwarding mode (e.g.
GRH/ISRN). Also, in some cases, the next hop addressing mode is a
function of both address information in the packet as well as
configuration information associated with ports in the fabric. The
ability in the example embodiment to determine when the destination
leaf subnet has been reached is an example of the next hop
addressing mode being a function of both address information in the
packet as well as configuration information associated with ports
in the fabric.
Forwarding Domains
[0176] In accordance with an embodiment, any specific Leaf Subnet,
Core Fabric or Gateway Subnet instance may represent a "Forwarding
Domain." As an IB packet is forwarded through the complete IB
fabric, it passes through one or more "forwarding domains" such as
shown in FIG. 13 where each such forwarding domain represents a
specific forwarding mode as well as a specific address value space.
In accordance with an embodiment, "Forwarding Domains" are
boundaries between multiple Leaf-Subnets and multiple Core Fabrics.
In the most straight forward scheme, any individual system instance
will belong to a single forwarding domain, e.g. a single
leaf-subnet or single core-fabric instance. In this case, all
boundaries between any pair of leaf-subnet or core-fabric instances
exist on the one or more links that connect different system
instances. In order to allow both leaf-subnets and core-fabric
instances to have arbitrary sizes, individual system instances are
selectively divided into two or more "virtual switch" instances
where each such virtual switch represents a collection of one or
more "virtual switch ports" that all represent connectivity
to/within either a single leaf-subnet or a single core-fabric. In
this case, the boundary between any pair of forwarding domains will
exist within the system crossbar that connects two or more virtual
switch instances.
[0177] As shown in FIG. 13, within a Source Subnet, LFT lookup is
performed in a first forwarding domain using the original (or
legacy) LRH.DLID scheme. In a second forwarding domain and as
shown, LFT lookup within the Core Fabric and when forwarding
packets from a Source Subnet to the Core Fabric, is performed using
the ISRN scheme in accordance with the example embodiment herein.
Further and as shown, LFT lookup in a third forwarding domain when
forwarding packets from the Core Fabric to the Target Subnet is
performed using the Target LID 1143 (FIG. 11) based LRH.DLID.
Gateway Port
[0178] In accordance with an embodiment, a physical system port
that represents connectivity to a forwarding domain is referred to
herein as a "gateway port." For the reasons set out below, a
gateway port is defined from the perspective of another port on the
same system instance sending packets to the gateway port. First,
sending packets to a gateway port implies that the addressing mode
for the packet is changed because the sending is one of: [0179] I.
sending source-leaf to core-fabric, [0180] II. sending core-fabric
to destination-leaf, or [0181] III. sending source-leaf to
destination-leaf.
[0182] Since the addressing mode of a packet applies to how
forwarding decisions are made for packets received from the IB
link, the change of addressing mode when crossing from one
forwarding domain shown in FIG. 13 to another is, in accordance
with an embodiment, implemented as the packet is moved from the
system ingress port to the egress port such as may be, for example,
the gateway port. The addressing mode will then be active when the
packet is forwarded to the IB link from the gateway/egress
port.
[0183] For this reason, the gateway port is defined from the
perspective of another port on the same system instance sending
packets to the gateway port.
[0184] It is to be appreciated that a link that represents a
boundary between different forwarding domains will normally have
gateway ports on both sides of the link. The motivation for having
gateway ports on both sides of the link is to ensure that
forwarding policy updates are contained on each side of the link,
and thereby remove the need for any write type management
operations across the link. For example, if one side of the link
represents a core-fabric and the other side of the link represents
a leaf-subnet, then the subnet manager on the leaf-subnet side has
in accordance with the example embodiment complete control of
forwarding of the packets received on the IB link.
[0185] In the example embodiment, packets on the link typically
have different addressing mode in each direction, and the
forwarding mode for the ports on each side of the IB link will
correspond to the "forwarding domain" on that side of the link. For
example, if one side of the link represents a core-fabric and the
other side of the link represents a leaf-subnet, then packets being
forwarded from the core-fabric to the leaf-subnet will have
LRH/DLID-based addressing mode as shown on the right in FIG. 13,
and the packets being forwarded from the leaf-subnet to the core
fabric will have GRH/ISRN-based addressing mode as shown on the
left in FIG. 13.
[0186] It is to be noted that in the case of a single gateway port
located on only one side of the link, that single gateway port is
to be managed as part of the forwarding domain on the remote side
of the link. As an example, if one side of the link represents a
core-fabric and the other side represents a leaf-subnet, and if
there is no gateway port on the leaf-subnet side, then the port on
the core-fabric side of the link would also need to be part of the
leaf-subnet and, further, to have its forwarding logic configured
by the subnet manager in the leaf-subnet. Since this implies that
this subnet manager then effectively implements the first hop
forwarding within the core fabric, an unnecessary dependency
between the two forwarding domains can be effectively eliminated by
moving the boundary between the forwarding domains from the link to
the system crossbar where the gateway port is located on the
core-fabric side. The above is followed correspondingly relative to
forwarding for the packets in the other direction.
[0187] On the other hand, with gateway ports on both sides of the
link, the only dependency between the forwarding domains is that
the forwarding of packets through the gateway port and onto the IB
link is performed with an assurance that the packet has or is
provided with the correct addressing mode. Since the output port
for the packet is already decided when the change of addressing
mode is performed, the change of addressing mode has no impact on
forwarding/routing decision at this point.
[0188] On the receiving side, the ingress packet handling and
forwarding decisions is performed in accordance with a standard
intra-subnet protocol just as for any switch port in that
forwarding domain.
[0189] In the case of crossbar based boundaries within a single
system instance, any physical port that is a gateway port relative
to any virtual switch instance on the same crossbar, i.e. within
the same system instance) may also be a virtual switch port within
another virtual switch within the same system instance.
[0190] A special case involves a single port connecting a system
instance to some leaf-subnet or core-fabric. Although technically a
single port is by definition not a switch in the sense that it can
perform packet forwarding between other source and target end-ports
within the local subnet/forwarding-domain, from an IBTA perspective
a switch with only a single external port is still a valid
construct in that it provides access to the switch management port
and thereby allows the switch management port to function as an
end-point within the subnet. In the subject example embodiment,
such a single port is still relevant for switching since it
provides access via the crossbar based forwarding domain boundaries
to other leaf-subnets and/or core-fabrics. Hence, from the
perspective of the remote leaf-subnet or core-fabric it provides
access to a number of gateway ports, but not to any virtual switch
port within the local forwarding domain.
[0191] In addition to the above, it is to be noted that if more
than one physical port connects a system instance to the same
core-fabric or leaf-subnet, then this collection of ports would by
default be represented as a virtual switch instance. However, from
a fabric topology perspective, there may be no need for this
switched connectivity, and it will be a matter of fabric definition
policy to represent the collection of ports as one or more virtual
switches, including the case of all individual ports only providing
connectivity, to gateway ports in other leaf-subnets or core
fabrics without allowing connectivity to other ports in the same
forwarding domain.
Leaf-Subnet Virtual-Switch
[0192] In accordance with an embodiment, a "Leaf-Subnet
Virtual-Switch" defines, as a baseline, a collection of one or more
physical ports on a single system instance that connects to the
same leaf subnet. If Fabric Local Subnet Numbers (FLSNs) are in
use, then all the ports in the same leaf-subnet virtual-switch will
normally represent the same FLSN value. It is to be noted that,
conceptually, different ports within in the same leaf-subnet
virtual-switch may represent different FLSN values and each port
may represent more than one value even though they all represent
the same physical subnet. Also, the same FLSN value may be
associated with leaf-subnet virtual-switch ports in different
physical leaf-subnets.
[0193] One motivation for the above schemes is to allow VM
migration between leaf subnets without implying a change of path
info. However, in order to maintain the complete path information,
the DLID can be preserved or a mapping function can be provided for
the DLID that can be used in such exception cases.
[0194] With a restricted number of mapping resources, as well as a
restricted number of more than one FLSN values per port, an
advanced scheme in accordance with a further example embodiment is
to use a two-step migration scheme where the migration is performed
without any path update in the first round using some of the
restricted hardware resources, while providing for a concurrent
path update process so that the restricted hardware resources could
be released again once the path information has been updated by all
relevant peers and the original path/address is no longer
needed.
[0195] In an example embodiment, a leaf-subnet virtual-switch
presents itself as a standard IB switch via standard SMA
attributes. Hence, legacy Subnet Managers (SMs) are able to
discover and configure a system based leaf-subnet virtual-switch in
a manner similar to any other standard IB legacy switch that is
part of the local subnet.
[0196] Further in an example embodiment, a leaf-subnet
virtual-switch may be extended to represent connectivity to other
parts of the local fabric or to a gateway subnet providing
connectivity to a remote fabric. Such connectivity implies that one
or more "special" ports are included in the leaf-subnet
virtual-switch and can be observed directly such as, for example,
as additional port numbers on the same virtual switch via special
SMA attributes. That is, one or more core-fabric gateway ports can
provide connectivity to one or more core fabrics, and one or more
virtual router ports can provide connectivity to physical router
ports as well as to various other ports outside the scope of the
leaf-subnet virtual-switch.
[0197] For example, A virtual router port can be observed
indirectly via standard SMA attributes, but then represented by
another switch port that has a (virtual) link to another port that
is identified as a router port.
[0198] In this way, a legacy Subnet Manager (SM) is able to
discover and utilize router based connectivity to other subnets. It
is to be appreciated, however, that a system aware Subnet Manager
(SM) will make use of the special SMA attributes to discover
special ports directly, so the need for "legacy SM" support is
diminished.
[0199] Further with regard to the example embodiment, one or more
leaf-subnet gateway ports can provide connectivity to one or more
other leaf subnets.
Leaf Subnet Virtual-Switch Port
[0200] In accordance with an example embodiment, a leaf-subnet
virtual-switch port can belong to a leaf-subnet virtual-switch
instance, and uses the LRH.DLID value in order to look up output
port number such as for example for packets arriving on the IB
link. The type of port the output port number represents relative
to this leaf-subnet virtual-switch instance is defined in the
example embodiment by configuration information available to the
member physical ports. The output port may represent another
virtual switch port in the same leaf-subnet virtual-switch, a core
fabric gateway port, a virtual router port or a leaf-subnet gateway
port providing direct connectivity to another leaf subnet. The
output port may in general not be a physical router port because
this implies that a new LRH will be constructed in a dynamic
fashion based on the packet GRH, and this can only be done via a
virtual router port.
[0201] It is to be appreciated that, given the definition of
simplified Gateway Subnets with only two ports (i.e. local and
remote router port), it is possible to provide a simplified scheme
where the DLID to use for the next hop is based on either a fixed
value, or would be based on having the local physical router port
record the LID value of the remote router port, and ensure that
this is used as the next hop DLID.
[0202] It is to further be appreciated that a physical port that is
a leaf-subnet virtual-switch port may also operate as a Leaf Subnet
Gateway Port from the perspective of another leaf-subnet
virtual-switch or core-fabric virtual-switch.
Core-Fabric Virtual-Switch
[0203] In accordance with an embodiment, a "Core-Fabric
Virtual-Switch" defines, as a baseline, a collection of one or more
physical ports on a single system instance that connects to the
same core fabric.
[0204] A core-fabric virtual-switch presents itself in the example
embodiment as a special IB switch via selected special SMA
attributes. Hence, a legacy Subnet Manager (SM) will not be able to
discover and configure a core-fabric virtual switch of the system
of the example embodiment.
[0205] A core-fabric virtual-switch may be extended to represent
connectivity to other parts of the local fabric or to a gateway
subnet providing connectivity to a remote fabric. Such connectivity
implies that one or more other "special" ports are included in the
core-fabric virtual-switch and can be observed directly, for
example as additional port numbers on the same virtual switch via
special selected SMA attributes, wherein one or more leaf-subnet
gateway ports can provide connectivity to one or more leaf subnets,
one or more virtual router ports can provide connectivity to
physical router ports as well as to various other ports outside the
scope of the leaf-subnet virtual-switch, and one or more
core-fabric gateway ports can provide connectivity to one or more
other core fabrics.
Core-Fabric Virtual-Switch Port
[0206] In accordance with the example embodiment, a core-fabric
virtual-switch port of a core-fabric virtual-switch instance uses
the GRH.DGID.ISRN value in order to look up output port for packets
arriving on the IB link. The type of output port the looked up port
number represents relative to this core-fabric virtual-switch
instance is defined by configuration information available to the
member physical ports. The output port may represent another
core-fabric virtual-switch port in the same core-fabric
virtual-switch, a leaf-subnet gateway port, a virtual router port,
or a core fabric gateway port providing direct connectivity to
another core fabric.
[0207] The output port may in general not be a physical router port
because this implies that a new LRH has to be constructed in a
dynamic fashion based on the packet GRH, and this can only be done
via a virtual router port.
[0208] It is to be appreciated that a physical port that is a
core-fabric virtual-switch port may also operate as a Core Fabric
Gateway Port from the perspective of another leaf-subnet
virtual-switch or core-fabric virtual-switch.
Core-Fabric Gateway Port
[0209] It is to be appreciated that in the case of system crossbar
based virtual switch and forwarding domain boundaries, a physical
port that is a core-fabric gateway port may also operate as a
core-fabric virtual-switch port from the perspective of the
core-fabric virtual-switch that represents the relevant core fabric
connectivity. Hence, from the perspective of the physical switch
port, the packet forwarding alternatives include those described
for "Core-Fabric Virtual-Switch Port" above in addition to the
gateway port related forwarding described in this section.
[0210] In accordance with an example embodiment, a core-fabric
gateway port represents a port that handles ingress to or egress
from a core fabric instance relative to one or more leaf-subnet
virtual-switch port(s) or core-fabric virtual-switch port(s)
belonging to other core-fabric virtual-switches in the same system
instance such as for example where those virtual core fabric
switches also represent other core fabric instances/forwarding
domains.
[0211] A core fabric gateway port receiving packets via the system
crossbar can, in general, not change any addressing mode, and
instead rely on that the received packet already has been set up
with correct addressing from the system ingress port that forwarded
it.
[0212] It is to be noted that in an example embodiment, since the
physical port may have multiple roles and the specific role is
decided at the point of forwarding the packet from the ingress
port, there is in general no need for updating address information
at the egress point unless some hardware design constraints makes
this kind of pipelining more efficient.
[0213] In the case of link-based forwarding domain boundaries, a
core fabric gateway port is part of the forwarding domain of the
leaf-subnet the local system instance represents. Hence, the
forwarding mode for packets arriving on the IB link is the
"LRH/DLID" forwarding mode.
[0214] In the case of system crossbar based forwarding domain
boundaries, a core fabric gateway port is part of the forwarding
domain defined by the remote core fabric instance. Hence, the
forwarding mode for packets arriving on the IB link is the
"GRH/ISRN" forwarding mode.
[0215] The type of output port the looked up port number represents
relative to the relevant forwarding domain (i.e. the core-fabric
instance the gateway port represents) is defined by configuration
information available to the physical port (i.e. same information
as outlined for the virtual-switch port personality, if any, of the
physical port).
[0216] The output port may represent a leaf-subnet gateway port, or
another core-fabric gateway port such as might be the case when two
core fabrics are connected via a single system crossbar, and may
also represent a virtual router port.
[0217] FIG. 14 shows an illustration of modifying a packet header
from an GRH/ISRN addressing mode format to a LRH/DLID based
forwarding format, in accordance with an embodiment. When packets
move from the core-fabric gateway port via the system crossbar to a
leaf-subnet gateway port, then this transition represents changing
from GRH/ISRN addressing mode to LRH/DLID based forwarding. This
implies that, as shown in the figure, a new LRH is constructed in
the header of a new packet 1400 with the DLID 1143 extracted from
the packet GRH 1111 (i.e., the system specific GRH.DGID.remoteDLID
field). It is to be noted that, in general, this forwarding is well
defined independently of correlating the packet FLSN value with the
FLSN value associated with the leaf subnet gateway port. That is,
the only information needed in order to accomplish the change in
addressing mode is that the egress port is defined as a leaf-subnet
gateway port from the perspective of the ingress port, and this is
independent of what FLSN value is involved. Based on this
observation, any correlation of packet FLSN value with the port
FLSN value is essentially an "assert" of that the routing is set up
correctly.
[0218] This issue is similar to that of the LID(s) associated with
end nodes. The local LID(s) are needed in order to generate a
correct SLID when sending packets, but as long as the subnet is
routed correctly according to LID assignment, there is essentially
no need to handle the DLID in incoming packets once the packet has
arrived at the destination end-node. As long as switch forwarding
tables are updated in correct sequence relative to assigning
initial or new LID values to end nodes, the end nodes will never
observe a case where the received DLID is in conflict with the
assigned LID.
[0219] On the other hand, making DLID check optional in the
end-node implies that the fabric in principle can use any number of
LIDs and associated routings for forwarding to a single end node.
In this case where the destination is a leaf subnet, making the
FLSN value check optional implies that VM migration between
different leaf subnets can be implemented with more
flexibility.
[0220] FIG. 15 is an illustration of a switch providing a mechanism
defining a special switch port boundary for changing packet
forwarding from an LRH/DLID addressing mode to a GRH/ISRN
addressing mode, in accordance with an embodiment. When packets
move from a leaf-subnet gateway port via the system crossbar to the
core-fabric gateway port, then this transition represents changing
from the LRH/DLID addressing mode to the GRH/ISRN addressing mode.
This implies that, as shown in the figure, a new LRH is constructed
with a fixed DLID identifying ISRN based forwarding. In this
regard, a switch 1500 provides a mechanism defining a special
switch port boundary for changing packet forwarding from an
LRH/DLID addressing mode to a GRH/ISRN addressing mode. In
accordance with an embodiment supporting ingress into the
intermediate switch fabric, a mechanism is provided in selected
switches 1500 of the fabric whereby a boundary can be defined. In
an embodiment, a "Special Switch Port" (SSP) 1510 is defined,
wherein the SSP represents an "end" of a local subnet. In an
embodiment, the packet uses the DLID 1122 (FIG. 11) in the
original/normal Local Route Header 1112 to point to the SSP 1510
via the LFT 1200 (FIG. 12) representative of a virtual end port of
the virtual subnet. The SSP is provided with an attribute
indicating that at this point it represent an "End Port" in this
subnet. The Special Attribute indicates a change in mode of
forwarding--wherein at the next level of forwarding, instead of
using the DLID 1122 in the Local Route Header 1112, it uses the
designated/dedicated bit-field 1131 from the 64-bit Subnet Prefix
Number portion of the GRH/L3 address. Essentially, the original
DLID 1122 is replaced with the designated/dedicated bit field, or a
portion thereof, to form a new DLID 1110' for use in ISRN based
forwarding in accordance with the example embodiment.
[0221] In an embodiment, the switch 1500 can use a LID-based
filtering technique. In this embodiment, the switch 1500 can
include a receiving (Rx) filter 1520, which can identify packets
targeting the SSP 1510. Thus, the switch 1500 can separate the data
flow traffic targeting the SSP 1510 from the data flow traffic
targeting the normal/legacy forwarding modality ports 1530. For
example, the Rx filter 1520 can separate the mixed data flow
traffic based on the service DLID (e.g. using DLID based
filtering). The following is an exemplary data service DLID table:
[0222] DLID=0xF [0223] DLID=0xFF
[0224] When an incoming packet has a matching DLID, (e.g. 0xF or
0xFF), the Rx filter 1520 can direct the packet to the SSP 1510. On
the other hand, if an incoming packet does not have a matching DLID
(i.e. with a DLID other than 0xF and 0xFF), the Rx filter 1520 can
direct the incoming packet to the normal/legacy forwarding modality
ports 1530, which can use an IB protocol engine to handle the IB
packet according to the standard IB protocol.
[0225] In accordance with an example embodiment, when packets move
between the core-fabric gateway port and another core-fabric
gateway port (i.e. connected to a different core fabric instance)
then the same GRH.DGID.ISRN value is still used for forwarding.
Hence, the management software ensures that packet traffic crossing
from one core fabric instance to another is representing a
GRH.DGID.ISRN value that is handled consistently in both the two or
more core fabrics since by default, each core fabric instance
represents its own ISRN value space.
[0226] When packets move from the core-fabric gateway port to a
virtual router port, then the next step forwarding scheme is a
function of the policies implemented by the virtual router
port.
[0227] The output port may in general not be a physical router port
because this implies that a new LRH is to be constructed in a
dynamic fashion based on the packet GRH, and this is performed via
a virtual router port.
Leaf-Subnet Gateway Port
[0228] In the case of a system crossbar based forwarding domain
boundaries, a physical port that is a leaf-subnet gateway port may
also operate as a leaf-subnet virtual-switch port from the
perspective of the leaf-subnet virtual-switch that represents the
relevant leaf-subnet connectivity. Hence, from the perspective of
the physical switch port, the packet forwarding alternatives
includes those described for "Leaf-Subnet Virtual-Switch Port"
above in addition to the gateway port related forwarding described
in this section.
[0229] In accordance with an example embodiment, a leaf-subnet
gateway port represents a port that handles ingress to or egress
from a leaf-subnet instance relative to one or more core-fabric
gateway ports and/or one or more leaf-subnet virtual-switch ports
belonging to other leaf-subnet virtual-switches in the same system
instance. In this regard, a leaf-subnet gateway port receiving
packets via the system crossbar in general does not change any
addressing mode(s), and instead relies on that the received packet
already has been set up with correct addressing from the system
ingress port that forwarded it.
[0230] In the case of link based forwarding domain boundaries, a
leaf-subnet gateway port is part of the forwarding domain of the
core fabric the particular system instance represents. Hence, the
forwarding mode for packets arriving on the IB link is the
"GRH/ISRN" forwarding mode.
[0231] In the case of system crossbar based forwarding domain
boundaries, a leaf-subnet gateway port is part of the forwarding
domain defined by the remote leaf subnet instance. Hence, the
forwarding mode for packets arriving on the IB link is the
"LRH/DLID" forwarding mode.
[0232] The output port may selectively represent a core-fabric
gateway port or another leaf-subnet gateway port such as when two
leaf subnets are connected via a single system crossbar, and may
also represent a virtual router port.
[0233] In accordance with the example embodiment, when packets move
from the leaf-subnet gateway port via the system crossbar to a
core-fabric gateway port, then this transition represents changing
from the LRH/DLID-based forwarding mode to the GRH/ISRN-based
forwarding mode.
[0234] In accordance with the example embodiment, when packets move
from a core-fabric gateway port via the system crossbar to the
leaf-subnet gateway port, then this transition represents changing
from GRH/ISRN addressing mode to LRH/DLID addressing mode.
[0235] In accordance with the example embodiment, when packets move
between the leaf-subnet gateway port and another leaf-subnet
gateway port (i.e. connected to a different leaf subnet) then the
original packet LRH.DLID value is used for looking up the output
port, but two alternatives exist for how the LRH is constructed for
the next hop as set out below.
[0236] As the first alternative, if the packet has no GRH and the
destination port allows "un-modified LID forwarding", then the
packet is forwarded with the same LRH.DLID. Hence, in this case it
is up to management software to ensure that packet traffic crossing
from one leaf-subnet instance to another without generation of new
LRH.DLID is representing a LRH.DLID value that is handled
consistently in both leaf subnet since by default each leaf subnet
instance represents its own LID value space.
[0237] As the second alternative, if the packet has GRH that does
represent ISRN based forwarding, then the packet is forwarded if
there is an FLSN match with the output port. It is to be noted that
similar to what was pointed out in the core fabric gateway port
discussion above, there is in general no need to perform FLSN
matching in this case either as long as the routing and forwarding
table setup is done correctly.
[0238] Still, in accordance with an embodiment, the use of FLSN
checking can be selectively enabled in order to actually verify
that the forwarding of packets between different forwarding domains
are not in conflict with FLSN assignment. In this case also, making
the FLSN value check optional implies that VM migration between
different leaf subnets can be implemented with more flexibility as
set out below regarding VM migration.
[0239] As the further alternative, if the packet has GRH that does
not represent ISRN based forwarding but the destination port allows
"un-modified LID forwarding," then the packet is forwarded with the
same LRH.DLID. Hence, also in this case, management software
ensures that packet traffic crossing from one leaf-subnet instance
to another without generation of new LRH.DLID is representing a
LRH.DLID value that is handled consistently in both leaf subnets
since by default, each leaf subnet instance represents its own LID
value space.
[0240] When packets move from the leaf-subnet gateway port to a
virtual router port, then the next step forwarding scheme is a
function of the policies implemented by the virtual router port.
The output port may in general not be a physical router port
because this implies that a new LRH is to be constructed in a
dynamic fashion based on the packet GRH, and this is performed via
a virtual router port.
Combined Core-Fabric and Leaf-Subnet Virtual-Switch
[0241] In accordance with an example embodiment, a combined
core-fabric and leaf-subnet virtual-switch construction allows the
same set of ports to provide the properties of both a core-fabric
and a leaf-subnet virtual-switch at the same time. One motivation
for this construction is to allow non-GRH based data and control
traffic to take place between nodes directly connected with the one
or more system instances in the core fabric. Forwarding options
within the core fabric were described above.
[0242] From an implementation perspective of the subject
embodiment, as long as a physical system port has configuration
information that defines the role of other ports that can be used
as output ports relative to the role of this port, there is a need
to enforce a restriction that specific set of ports is defined as a
combined Core-Fabric and Leaf-Subnet Virtual-Switch as opposed to
allowing partial overlap of physical port membership between
different virtual switch instances.
Combined Core-Fabric and Leaf-Subnet Virtual-Switch Port
[0243] A combined core-fabric and leaf-subnet virtual-switch port
in accordance with an example embodiment supports both the GRH/ISRN
forwarding mode and the LRH/DLID forwarding mode.
[0244] In order to perform the GRH/ISRN based forwarding, the
LRH.DLID is a specific pre-defined value that is common for all
ports in the ISRN based path. Hence, this LID value can either be a
system chip level constant, or it preferably can be defined by a
per physical port register.
[0245] The combined port can support a configurable number of DLID
entries and another configurable range of ISRN values in terms of
logical Linear Forwarding Table (LFT) capacity.
[0246] It is to be noted that, in general, it is preferred that all
ports in the same virtual switch have the same DLID and/or ISRN LFT
capacity so that the set of values can be supported by any port.
However, this is merely a configuration policy and not an
implementation constraint of the example embodiment.
[0247] Similarly, each virtual switch instance including the
combined virtual switch instance type and the single virtual switch
instance type are selectively defined in the example embodiment to
logically represent per port Linear Forwarding Trables (LFTs) or a
logically common LFT for all the virtual switch ports. However,
this is a firmware option as the physical LFT implementation is
distributed per port or per set of dual ports in the example
embodiment. One reason for this firmware option is obviously to
support the IB Specification compliant IB switch mode, as well as
to be able to use Subnet Manager and routing engines and
initialization engines that do not support distributed LFTs.
Virtual Router Port
[0248] A virtual router port is represented in the example
embodiment by a system port number outside the range of physical
ports. Hence, the virtual router port has no directly associated
physical link. Any virtual switch port can look up a virtual router
port, and the virtual router port then uses a configurable routing
function on the packet GRH in order to define physical output port
and next hop LRH.
[0249] It is to be noted that the routing function in the example
embodiment includes both hierarchical forwarding between end-points
in the same local fabric, as well as generic forwarding between
independent local fabric instances.
[0250] If a packet without a GRH is sent to a virtual router port,
then preferably the packet is either dropped or a new LRH and
physical output port is generated based on a configurable
function.
[0251] Each virtual switch port has an associated default virtual
router port that is used as intermediate output port if an LFT
based lookup is not possible because the DLID or ISRN value from
the packet is outside the LFT range supported by the port. In this
case, the virtual router port is operable to selectively either
drop the packet as a default per the IB Specification, or perform a
configurable function on the packet headers in order to define
physical output port and next hop LRH.
Physical Router Port
[0252] A physical router port is, in the example embodiment, a port
that handles ingress to a local fabric instance or egress from a
local fabric instance. The physical router port is represented as
an IB Specification compliant router port from the link side.
[0253] In the example embodiment, a physical router port is
associated with the same packet forwarding logic as a virtual
router port used for packets arriving from the link side.
[0254] In the example, embodiment, a physical router port is looked
up or otherwise referenced by a virtual router port or another
physical router port that has performed a selected function on the
packet GRH of a packet and then produced a new LRH intended to exit
on the link of the physical router port.
[0255] Simple LRH.DLID insertion is provided based on remote DLID
value associated with remote router port in minimal gateway
subnet.
Inter Subnet Route Number (ISRN)
[0256] In accordance with the example embodiment, the Inter Subnet
Route Number (ISRN) is a value defined by a variable part of a
packet GRH.DGID.subnetprefix that is used to index LFT entries
within a core fabric instance. The ISRN value space is per
core-fabric instance, and the Fabric Global Manager (FGM)
coordinates the use of the ISRN values.
[0257] In the example embodiment, packets to be forwarded using the
ISRN value have a special reserved LRH.DLID value that indicates to
the receiving port that the ISRN value should be used for LFT based
forwarding.
[0258] In an embodiment, an ability for system ports to have
"multiple personalities" implies that the packet should contain
information about the particular type of forwarding mechanism to
use as opposed to having this (only) as a per port configuration
info.
Fabric Local Subnet Number (FLSN)
[0259] In accordance with the example embodiment, the Fabric Local
Subnet Number (FLSN) is a value that identifies a destination
subnet within a local fabric. Preferably, all FLSN numbers are
allocated and managed by the Fabric Global Manager (FGM). Any
packet that is forwarded based on ISRN value also has a destination
FLSN value.
[0260] An FLSN value is associated with Leaf-Subnet Gateway ports
that assume a logical port role, and packets forwarded to such
ports will have the packet FLSN number matched against the port
FLSN number in order to determine that the destination subnet has
been reached.
[0261] In an embodiment, an ability for system ports to have
"multiple personalities" implies that the packets are be qualified
as having reached their destination subnet based on combination of
both packet and port information as opposed to simply relying upon
per port configuration information.
Fabric Global Manager (FGM)
[0262] In accordance with the example embodiment, the Fabric Global
Manager (FGM) is a "super Subnet Manager" that is capable of
performing discovery and configuration of a complete local fabric
instance. The FGM cooperates with "FGM aware" Subnet Managers in
each individual leaf subnet.
[0263] It is to be noted that each leaf-subnet Subnet Manager is
capable of managing its own local leaf-subnet independently of the
FGM, but will depend on the FGM in order to facilitate any
inter-subnet traffic that involves any core-fabric or other
leaf-subnet in the local fabric.
Identification Subnet Number (ISN)
[0264] In accordance with the example embodiment, an Identification
Subnet Number (ISN) is an administratively assigned subnet number
that may have a global or a site specific uniqueness. The ISN
number is used together with a GUID in order to form GID values
that are selectively used for inter-subnet traffic between
different local fabric instances.
Hardware GUID (HW GUID)
[0265] In accordance with the example embodiment, a hardware GUID
is a 64 bit globally unique identification of a hardware resource.
Each physical system instance in the example embodiment has a base
HW GUID value. Each system based virtual switch instance has a HW
GUID that is derived from the base HW GUID in a pre-defined way.
Each physical HCA will have a base HW GUID. Each virtual HCA port
will have a HW GUID that is derived from the base HW GUID in a
pre-defined way.
Virtual GUID (vGUID)
[0266] In accordance with the example embodiment, a virtual GUID
(vGUID) is a 64 bit GUID value that is either globally unique or
unique within a local fabric. A virtual GUID is also guaranteed to
be unique relative to any HW GUID present in the local fabric.
[0267] A virtual GUID is typically associated with a Virtual
Machine instance, and the same vGUID value (one for each vHCA port
the VM is using) will normally be associated with a VM thoughout
the VM lifecycle that may include multiple migrations between
physical servers and vHCA instances.
[0268] It is to be noted that a particular vHCA instance is
identified by its HW GUID, but whenever a VM is using it, the vHCA
ports can then also be addressed using the relevant VM vGUID
values.
Packet Header Formats and Conventions:
[0269] The standards for the packet Local and Global Route Header
(LRH/GRH) formats and conventions will now be described. First, the
Local Route Header (LRH) used in the example embodiment herein is
as defined by the InfiniBand (IB) Specification. Similarly, Global
Route Header (GRH) used in the example embodiment herein is as
defined by the InfiniBand (IB) Specification, but with a set of two
additions/exceptions: 1) the GRH.DGID.SUBNET_PREFIX can have type
"ISRN" and 2) the GRH.DGID.SUBNET_PREFIX can have type
"LeafSwitchHierarchy."
[0270] When the GRH.DGID.SUBNET_PREFIX is of the type "ISRN," the
GRH.DGID.SUBNET_PREFIX has, in the example embodiment, the
following format (in addition to the ISRN Type: [0271]
(Destination) Fabric Local Subnet Number [0272] Inter Subnet Route
Number (i.e. in the core fabric instance defined by the initial
LRH.DLID value in the source leaf subnet) [0273] DLID (in
destination leaf subnet defined by the Fabric Local Subnet
Number).
[0274] When the GRH.DGID.SUBNET_PREFIX is of the type
"LeafSwitchHierarchy," the GRH.DGID.SUBNET_PREFIX has, in the
example embodiment, the following format (in addition to the
LeafSwitchHierarchy Type: [0275] (Destination) Fabric Local Subnet
Number [0276] (Destination) Leaf Switch Number
[0277] All special sub-fields have run-time defined sizes and
offsets. (I.e. enabled by using dedicated TCAM entries to perform
the sub-field extractions).
Mapping and Selection of SL and VL Values Throughout a Local
Fabric:
[0278] In accordance with the example embodiment herein, within a
single leaf-subnet, packets with only LRH and no GRH will be using
legacy SL to VL mapping. The example embodiment may, selectively as
desired or necessary, extend the local LID and/or SL/VL value space
by using reserved bits and new header version number. Extending the
number of port numbers that can be looked up by the LFT and allow
more such "alias" port numbers to represent other SL/VL mappings
for an associated physical port. (i.e. same effect as the above TBD
for SL/VL handling but consumes LFT memory rather than relying on
proprietary use of reserved LRH bits.) This implies use of multiple
DLID values rather than different SL values to achieve traffic
separati
[0279] Mapping and selection of values within a single leaf-subnet
packets with both LRH and no GRH will by default use, in the
example embodiment, legacy SL to VL mapping. The GRH fields are
preferably used in the same way as in core fabrics.
[0280] Mapping and selection of values between leaf-subnets and
within core fabrics, packets with only LRH are preferably to be
handled as in a single leaf subnet.
[0281] Mapping and selection of values between leaf-subnets and
within core fabrics, packets with both LRH and GRH will have SL
selection based on the following scheme: each Traffic Class value
represents a set of possible SL values; a hashing of the Flow Label
value selects among the available SL values defined by traffic
class, and support is provided for "aggressive" credit wait policy
as defined in the "Mapping and Selection of SL and VL values
through Gateway Subnets" below.
Mapping and Selection of SL and VL Values Through Gateway
Subnets:
[0282] By default, the same GRH based schemes as defined for use
within a local fabric is supported by the example embodiment. In
addition to the basic mapping, an egress router port such as for
example a router port sending packets to the gateway subnet/router
port in the remote fabric, may classify all such packets or a
subset based on TBD criteria as having a more "aggressive" credit
wait policy where packets will be dropped "early" in order to avoid
congestion trees to build up in the local fabric.
Mapping and Selection of P_Key Values Throughout a Local
Fabric:
[0283] Each forwarding domain in the example embodiment has a range
of P_Key values that can be used for traffic internal to the
leaf-subnet without any coordination at the local fabric level.
That is, the same private range can be used by all forwarding
domains. Any P_Key value outside the local range is allocated via
the FGM. The FGM ensures that gateway ports only accept forwarding
of packets with P_Key values that are allowed to be forwarded into
the relevant forwarding domain.
[0284] In a further example, the FGM can define special paths that
involves mapping of P_Key values at specific gateway ports such as
between different forwarding domains. In general, such mapping
implies that the packet Invariant CRC (ICRC) is re-computed. As an
alternative scheme that involves support from the end nodes such as
HCAs, a scheme is provided where the normal packet ICRC is computed
based on a packet P_Key value of 0, but in addition has a reserved
bit field in the GRH that is not included in the ICRC, but which
contains a CRC parity value for the current P_Key value.
Mapping and Selection of P_Key Values Through Gateway Subnets:
[0285] The example embodiment as described herein makes, in
general, no assumption about coordinated P_Key value allocation
between different local fabric instances. Native IB communication
is in this case based on a dynamically negotiated P_Key value
between the involved local fabric instances, or based on a P_Key
mapping scheme as outlined for the Local Fabric case above.
Forwarding of Multicast Packets Throughout a Local Fabric:
[0286] In the example embodiment, each forwarding domain has a
range of MLID values that are considered private for the forwarding
domain, wherein the same private range can be used by all
forwarding domains. Any multicast group mapped to a private MLID
can only be forwarded within the local forwarding domain. The FGM
ensures that private MLID forwarding will not take place across
forwarding domain boundaries, and coordinates the use of a set of
shared MLID values that can be used to implement multicast
forwarding throughout the complete local fabric instance. MGID
values to be used via shared MLID values throughout the complete
local fabric are allocated by the FGM. Such MGID values have a
selected bit field that defines it to be an FGM controlled MGID.
The local SM within each forwarding domain, is responsible for
ensuring that there is no conflicting use of FGM controlled
MGIDs.
[0287] In a further example, virtual router ports are used. In this
example, multicast packets with a specific MGID and MLID value in
one forwarding domain can be forwarded with the same MGID value but
a different MLID value in another forwarding domain.
Forwarding of Multicast Packets Through Gateway Subnets:
[0288] The example embodiment as described herein makes, in
general, no assumption about coordinated MGID value allocation
between different local fabric instances. Native IB multicast
communication with pure hardware based forwarding are in this case
based on a dynamically negotiated MGID value between the involved
local fabric instances.
[0289] By default in the example embodiment, any multicast
forwarding between different local fabric instances is based on
configuring a software based proxy service that operates in
association with one or more physical router ports and receives
multicast packets from the local fabric or from the physical router
port and forwards the payload in a new multicast packet in the
opposite direction. The proxy is, preferably, by default a normal
multicast group member on the local fabric side, and has a special
relationship with the physical router port in order to intercept
all multicast packets arriving from the remote fabric such as, for
example, via the gateway subnet.
[0290] In addition to the above, a mechanism is selectively
provided ensure that multicast packets from the remote fabric are
forwarded to the proxy in a way that does not interfere with any
multicast forwarding in the local fabric. This could use a scheme
or a notion of a "default MC destination" that uses a dedicated
MLID in the local fabric. This is viable as long as the receiver(s)
are able to receive any number of MGIDs and forward to the QP(s)
associated with the proxy instance(s). This may also include a
large number of partitions. If this functionality is hard to ensure
for relevant HCAs, then an alternative embodiment herein is for the
system to function to tunnel the IB MC packet in an IB unicast
packet, in a way that is similar to how Enet packets are tunneled
when received on an Enet GW port. The proxy implementation is then
able to interpret and handle the incoming remote MC packet
independently of how it is tunneled on the local fabric.
[0291] It is to be noted that, in order to handle any number of
partitions, more than one SW proxy may be required in the direction
from local fabric to remote fabric. It is to be further noted that
for the physical router port, tunneling in both directions is
implemented. A Iso, in the case where a proxy implementation exists
in both fabrics, the tunneling is implemented by cooperating proxy
implementations without the need for any dedicated hardware
support. In this connection, a tunneling scheme implies that the
max IB MTU cannot be forwarded as tunneled MC packets since the
original IB headers have to be included as IB payload in the
tunneling packet. The proxy is preferably able to handle the case
where the same MGID value is used for two different logical
multicast groups in different local fabrics.
Initial Discovery and Configuration of a Local Fabric:
[0292] In accordance with the example embodiment, by default, each
system instance operates as a single conventional InfiniBand (IB)
switch. In this default configuration, any existing IB Subnet
Manager or SMP based diagnostic and monitoring tool is able to
"see" or otherwise learn the complete connected fabric as a single
IB subnet.
[0293] The division of a system instance into multiple virtual
switches as well as defining port types and associated
configuration information represents an "out-of-band" configuration
policy that is, for example, not part of normal SMA operations. All
or most out-of-band configuration operations can be implemented
however via vendor specific SMP operations as an alternative to
"pure" out-of-band configuration. It is to be noted that since in
the example embodiment each system instance has E-net based
management interface that is available independently of any IB link
state, and also supports IPolB/EolB, the "out-of-band"
configuration does in principle represent IP based access via any
of the interfaces.
[0294] It is to be further noted that there is no notion of a pure
"local" management interface like PCI-E that is inherently
associated with a local management processor. Still, in order to
solve "chicken-and-egg" configuration issues relative to security,
the Enet interface may represent an initial source of configuration
policy with the assumption that the physical system such as for
example the "NM3 box," the system of the example embodiment is part
of preferably has secured the Enet access via port based VLANs or
other access control rules. This knowledge is preferably production
time defined "a priori" and is persistent configuration information
for the system instance.
[0295] In configurations where an HCA port representing an NM3
internal management processor is present and connected to a
specific port on a specific system instance such as defined by the
hardware design, then the system instance in accordance with the
example embodiment should also have a priori information about the
local system port having this connectivity.
[0296] Based on configuration information supplied initially via
the Enet interface or via the management Host Channel Adapter
(HCA), the firmware of the system of the example embodiment is able
to authenticate configuration operations from other interfaces
and/or other sources on the management Enet interface as well. Such
configuration information is stored reliably and persistently by
the firmware of the example embodiment.
[0297] The firmware in accordance with a further example embodiment
may also have access to additional "a priori" persistent
configuration information that allows the firmware to authenticate
access from other interfaces/sources at initial deployment time.
This could include public keys for vendor-specific management
software etc. In addition, private keys used for authenticating the
type and possible also the specific identity such as related to the
hardware GUID of this vendor instance could be present as may be
necessary or desired.
[0298] In accordance with the example embodiment, when port roles
and virtual switches have been configured, the in-band management
components such as for example the Subnet Manager (SM) and FGM
instances, are able to discover their relevant portions of the
local physical and/or virtual fabric using both legacy SMP-based
subnet discovery methods as well as one or more vendor-specific SMP
method(s).
[0299] In accordance with the example embodiment, each leaf subnet
is preferably discovered and configured in parallel with other leaf
subnets by independent SM instances.
[0300] In the core fabric(s), one or more "master" FGM instances
may operate concurrently with, in general, one master FGM instance
per core fabric instance.
[0301] Further, subnet managers in leaf-subnets preferably do not
have any SMP access (read or write) outside their leaf-subnet, that
is outside their forwarding domain. A legacy subnet manager in a
leaf subnet will only be able to discover ordinary (virtual) switch
ports and their local connectivity within the leaf subnet. A
fabric-aware subnet manager in a leaf subnet is preferably able to
discover gateway ports and the connectivity they represent, but is
not be able to modify any configuration of the gateway ports. A
fabric-aware subnet manager in a leaf subnet will by default
preferably not be able to discover any remote port connectivity
beyond a gateway port, nor any further hops, nor be able to modify
any configuration information beyond a gateway port.
[0302] In the example embodiment, an FGM instance will by default
be able to discover the complete local fabric. An FGM instance may
avoid, by a configuration option for the FGM instance for example,
or be prevented from, by access restrictions in remote virtual
systems, performing any hop-by-hop DR SMP based discovery of the
topology outside a local forwarding domain such as outside a
specific core fabric instance, or outside the complete core fabric.
Access restrictions may typically apply to different leaf subnets
that has a different fabric level owner. In this case, the central
FGM collects topology information from each core-fabric instance as
well as topology information from each leaf subnet via the relevant
subnet manager or FGM instances and uses this information to
evaluate the optimized routing of the complete local fabric.
[0303] It is to be noted that, by default, full end-to-end
connectivity within a local fabric will exist following a local
routing of each forwarding domain where full connectivity is
established between all end-ports in each leaf subnet, between all
end ports and all gateway ports in each leaf subnet, and between
each gateway port in each core fabric instance and, in particular,
between any pair of leaf-subnet gateway ports.
[0304] Based on the above full connectivity, the central FGM can
select end-to-end paths for all potential "pair of peers" in the
local fabric based on combining a path in the source leaf subnet, a
path in a relevant core fabric instance, if any, and the relevant
path in the destination leaf subnet. The central FGM would need to
ensure that any end-to-end path between the different leaf subnets
is not representing any credit loop. However, credit loop avoidance
will trivially be ensured as long as the following conditions are
fulfilled: each leaf subnet represents a fat-tree where gateway
ports to core fabric instances and/or other leaf subnets represents
root switch nodes in the local leaf subnet, and each core fabric
instance is routed with all leaf-subnet gateway ports as leaf
nodes/ports within a regular fat-tree.
[0305] In accordance with the example embodiment, in order to
ensure static optimization within the complete local fabric via
dedicated or "primary" down-paths, the central FGM selects a path
for the target leaf subnet that will use an egress gateway port in
the root switch that represents the dedicated or "primary" down
path for the destination node in the target leaf subnet. The
information about root switch will in general be available from the
master Subnet Manager (SM) within the leaf subnet. The master
Subnet Manager (SM) in the leaf subnet has selected a root switch
which may be a virtual switch or a complete physical instance of
the system of the subject embodiment for the destination node as
part of the local routing of the leaf subnet.
[0306] The selection of gateway port inherently also represents
selection of a core fabric instance that currently has connectivity
from the source leaf subnet and that represents a "reasonable"
balancing of inter leaf subnet traffic at this point in time.
[0307] The central FGM then selects an ingress gateway port from
the source leaf subnet to the selected core fabric instance, and an
ISRN value that represents the primary path for the selected
destination egress gateway port in the selected core fabric
instance.
[0308] The selection of ingress gateway port to the core fabric
instance also represents a "reasonable" balancing of the inter-leaf
subnet traffic at this point in time.
[0309] In accordance with the example embodiment, the path from the
source port in the source leaf subnet to the selected ingress
gateway port to the selected core fabric instance is defined by the
master Subnet Manager (SM) in the source leaf subnet. This path is
preferably constructed by the master Subnet Manager (SM) without
any knowledge about potential use for inter leaf subnet traffic.
The central FGM can then construct the complete path based on
combining the information from the master Subnet Manager in both
the source and the target leaf subnet with the selected ISRN value
for the selected core fabric instance.
[0310] In addition to the pure route information defined by the LID
and ISRN values, the central FGM will also obtain SL values from
each involved master Subnet Manager, and then also select Traffic
Class and Flow Label to reflect SL/VL selection within the core
fabric and SL selection upon entering of the target leaf
subnet.
[0311] It is to be noted that in the simplest default case, a
single SL value can be selected that will be preserved throughout
the complete local fabric and with consistent mapping to a fixed VL
in all forwarding domains such as for example in the same way as
for a legacy single subnet fat-tree topology.
[0312] It is to be further noted that, unlike a conventional single
subnet fabric where a DLID represents a final destination, and
where the same DLID can be re-routed to use different routes
through the fabric as a consequence of various link and/or switch
failures within the fabric, the DLID-ISRN-DLID based end-to-end
path within a fabric may need to be updated as a result of failures
as long as there is not a coordinated re-routing of the DLIDs for
ingress gateway ports from the source subnet to the core fabric, as
well as the ISRN value representing the egress gateway port from
the core fabric instance to the destination leaf subnet. Hence, in
the example embodiment, if a gateway port is no longer available,
then either a re-routing is performed of the relevant DLID or ISRN
value to represent an alternative gateway port that can provide
equivalent forward connectivity, or an update is performed of path
information for impacted flows/communication peers.
[0313] Also in the example embodiment, in order to perform
re-balancing of overall inter leaf-subnet paths, the central FGM
selectively generates new path information for one or more flows
and notifies the involved peers, or orchestrates an end-to-end
re-routing of the current DLID-ISRN-DLID based path involving all
related master subnet Managers and FGM instances.
Maintaining a Global Overview of Physical and Virtual Node
Population:
[0314] In accordance with the example embodiment, the physical and
virtual end-nodes in each leaf subnet are discovered and configured
by the local master Subnet Manager (SM). Each master Subnet Manager
will notify the central FGM about its local node population by
queries and events. For core fabrics with communicating end-nodes
including physical and virtual management servers as well as switch
management ports, the relevant FGM instance keeps track of or
otherwise maintains information relating to the population in the
same way as the master SMs in the leaf subnets. The central FGM
will thereby be able to keep track of the whereabouts of any
end-node based on GUID, and hence be able to construct the relevant
path information for any required communication.
[0315] In general, VM migration within a single leaf-subnet is
handled locally within the leaf-subnet, but any change of routing
or path information is communicated to the central FGM instance. VM
migration across leaf-subnet boundaries will in general be
coordinated via the central FGM.
[0316] It is to be noted the central FGM is in general responsible
for coordination of vGUID and P_Key value ranges across the various
leaf subnet and core fabric instance boundaries. Hence, any value
allocation within any forwarding domain that is not in synchronism
with the current global policy will not be allowed to become
visible outside the relevant forwarding domain, nor have any
negative impact on other forwarding domains.
Virtual Machine (VM) Migration:
[0317] In accordance with the example embodiment, virtual machine
(VM) migration within a single leaf subnet can take place without
any change of address information as long as unique DLID values are
used to denote the virtual HCA ports the VM is representing.
[0318] Whenever a VM is migrated out of a leaf subnet, then in
general, the addressing information is updated for all peers in the
original leaf subnet that have been using LRH only (i.e. no GRH)
based addressing to reach the VM, since use of GRH now becomes
required. Likewise, whenever a VM is migrated out of a leaf subnet,
then the addressing information is updated for all peers in other
forwarding domains currently using GRH/ISRN based addressing. This
is the case as long as it is not possible to preserve the VMs LID
value used in the original subnet in addition to perform a
re-routing of both the DLID for the initial core-fabric gateway
port as well as the ISRN value for the subsequent leaf-subnet
gateway port.
[0319] In accordance with a further example embodiment, using TCAM
based forwarding and LRH generation via virtual router ports in the
system instances that directly connects the new leaf subnet a VM is
migrated to, it is possible to have an intermediate state where the
LID for the initial core fabric gateway port as well as the ISRN
value for the subsequent leaf subnet gateway port has been
re-routed to provide forwarding to the relevant virtual router
port, the virtual router port could do the generation of the final
LRH with the new DLID so that the complete old addressing
information would be valid following the migration.
[0320] The above scheme can be combined as necessary or desired
with a "lazy" scheme for updating address information for all
relevant peers, and both old (original) and new address information
is could then be valid for the VM concurrently. When it has been
confirmed for example by the central FGM that no peer no longer
depends on the old address information, the old address information
can be "recycled".
[0321] This scheme assumes that at least the original ISRN value is
allocated exclusively for the VM (i.e. not for the leaf-subnet
gateway port as such) so that it can be re-routed without causing
conflicts for other destinations using the same ISRN value for the
intermediate core fabric path.
[0322] In the case where VM migration occurs in a way that requires
that a new core fabric instance has to be used to reach the VM
after migration, then the same constraint exists for the DLID
values used to address the core fabric gateway port in all
communicating leaf subnets.
[0323] As special case here is the communication peers inside the
original leaf subnet.--As long as these peers have been instructed
to use GRH/ISRN based addressing in the first place, the VM
migration can be handled transparently based on re-routing the
original DLID and ISRN values (i.e. initially the original LRH.DLID
will have pointed to the VM directly, but after migration, this
will have been updated to point to the relevant core-fabric gateway
port.
[0324] From the perspective of a VM that is being migrated out of a
leaf subnet instance, it will in general have to update address
information for all its communication peers since the first hop
addressing in particular will not be the same in different leaf
subnets. This is independent of all the enhancements to achieve
address transparency for the communication peers outlined in the
section above.
[0325] It is to be noted that, in all cases above, the assumption
is that FLSN checking is not enabled or that migration only takes
place between leaf subnet instances with the same FLSN value, or
that the system implementation allows some number of FLSN values to
be associated with each port as described above so that a few
migrations with conflicting FLSN values can be handled at any point
in time, that is until all peers have updated the address
information as described above.
Hardware Support for the Leaf-Subnet/Core-Fabric Model:
[0326] Within a single leaf subnet, the system of the example
embodiment implements the LRH.DLID based packet forwarding using
Linear Forwarding Tables (LFTs) according to the InfiniBand (IB)
Specification. By default, each virtual switch has an LFT that
supports the full 48K unicast DLID space as well as a multicast
forwarding table that supports the full 16K multicast DLID space.
As long as the POR for the system is to have private unicast and
multicast LFTs that is/are shared by pairs of physical ports, the
minimum granularity for configuring virtual switch port membership
is the groups of two ports sharing LFTs. Then with enhanced SM and
FGM routing logic, multiple independent LFTs per virtual switch may
be supported. However, as long as LFTs are shared by more than one
physical port, the dependency is that the actual physical topology
lends itself to handling of multiple independent LFTs.
[0327] It is to be noted that, the sharing of LFTs between physical
ports has impact for how grouping of ports per cable connector (if
more than 4.times.), as well as how the cabled physical
connectivity of a large local fabric should look like in order for
utilization of more than one LFT per virtual switch to be
beneficial. Also, using various proprietary or pre-standard
techniques, embodiments of the subject system could potentially
expand the LRH.DLID unicast space beyond 48K.
[0328] In order to identify the boundary between forwarding domains
such as for example between different leaf subnets and/or core
fabric instances, the system of the example embodiment implements a
set of features described below.
[0329] First, from within a leaf subnet, any core fabric gateway
port is identified by one or more DLIDs so that forwarding takes
place using normal LRH.DLID based lookup. In order to identify that
a looked up output port represents a core fabric gateway port that
requires a change in addressing mode from LRH/DLID (based on the
original LRH) to GRH/ISRN information is provided that allows this
change in mode to be determined before the packet is reaching the
egress link in the output port. In order to avoid packet stalling,
this information is made available as early as possible after the
packet has been received at the ingress port, and the new LRH is
made ready and well-defined once the arbiter allows the packet to
be forwarded to the output port. Hence, the information is
available along with the lookup of output port in the ingress port.
Further, in order to allow the same output port to have more than
one "personality" depending on which other local system port is
sending the packet to it across the crossbar, having the type of
output port available via registers associated with each input port
is the most flexible scheme. This both saves space relative to have
the port type encoded in the LFT entry, and it provides flexibility
and no need for access arbitration relative to both shared LFT
entries as well as relative to using a centralized approach where
the type of output port is defined once for the whole chip. The
hardware support for constructing the new packet with the new
addressing mode includes generation of a fixed LRH.DLID based on an
internal register, as well as logic to identify and extract the
correct ISRN bit field from the GRH.
[0330] Second, within a core fabric instance, the identification of
GRH/ISRN forwarding mode in an ingress port is based on matching
the incoming LRH.DLID value with the contents of an internal
register. Then, if the packet LRH.DLID value matches the value
contained in the register, forwarding mode is the "GRH/ISRN"
forwarding mode of the example embodiment. Otherwise, if the packet
LRH.DLID value does not match the value contained in the register,
the forwarding mode is the InfiniBand (IB) legacy "LRH/DLID"
forwarding mode.
[0331] In the example embodiment, for performance and flexibility,
this register is preferably replicated for all ports. This implies
that it is also possible to have a leaf subnet virtual switch
instance where the Subnet Manager (SM) is not aware of this system
feature, but without reducing the available LFT size within that
leaf subnet. From within a core fabric instance, the route towards
a gateway port (or end port) is defined by the ISRN value that is
used to look up the output port from the LFTs of each of the
"in-route" system ingress ports.
[0332] In order to determine that the output port is a gateway to
the destination leaf subnet, the straight forward solution of the
example embodiment is to compare the packet FLSN number with the
FLSN number(s) associated with the looked up output port. However,
in order to identify the required change in addressing mode while
still allowing the ingress port to operate in more than one mode,
it is sufficient for the ingress port to have a flag per possible
output port that tells if the output port represents a change in
addressing mode or that the output port does not represent a change
in addressing mode. Hence, if the ingress forwarding mode is
GRH/ISRN, and the output port is flagged as representing change in
addressing mode (i.e. relative to this ingress port), then the
addressing mode can deterministically be changed to LRH/DLID based
on the DLID value contained in the GRH.DGID.prefix.dlid. It is to
be noted that in this case, matching the FLSN value would just
represent an additional integrity check as long as the ISRN based
routing within the core fabric instance is correct.
[0333] The HW support for constructing the new packet with the new
addressing mode includes logic to identify and extract the correct
DLID bit field from the GRH, as well as generation of the new LRH
based on the extracted DLID value.
[0334] Third, when two leaf subnets are directly connected by
different virtual switches on the same system instance, there is
typically a mutual leaf-subnet gateway port relationship between
the ports in the two virtual switches. Hence, from within leaf
subnet A, there will be one or more DLID values that identifies a
specific leaf subnet gateway port providing direct connectivity to
leaf subnet B. Then in order to determine that the output port is a
gateway to the destination leaf subnet, the straight forward
solution of the example embodiment is to compare the packet FLSN
number with the FLSN number(s) associated with the looked up output
port. However, in order to identify the required change in
addressing mode while still allowing the ingress port to operate in
more than one mode, it is sufficient for the ingress port to have a
flag per possible output port that indicates whether the output
port represents a change in addressing mode or whether the output
port does not represent a change in addressing mode such as for the
cases above.
[0335] Still, in the case where the change in addressing mode can
be either LRH/DLID to GRH/ISRN or LRH/DLID to LRH/DLID (i.e. as in
this example), it is not sufficient to have only a single flag
value per output port. Hence, the per output port flags preferably
identify the type of gateway port, and not just change of
addressing mode. Again, however, using FLSN matching is an
alternative, but this is still primarily an integrity check as long
as the forwarding between leaf subnet instances is correctly
implemented.
Hardware Support for the Leaf-Subnet/Core-Fabric Model:
[0336] In order to support an arbitrary number of incoming
DGID.subnetprefix values but still allow DGID.GUID values to be
verified for a target physical or virtual HCA port, an embodiment
includes a mode wherein checking incoming GRH.DGID against the
hardware and alias GID values for a physical or virtual HCA port is
restricted to the GUID portion only and the subnet prefix portion
is ignored.
[0337] In principle, this mode could be specified individually for
each GID table entry. However, from a HW implementation
perspective, it may be difficult to have an associative match
against several table entries and then also have multiple matches
based on different matching criteria. Hence, a mode where the check
is always done for only the GUID part is sufficient.
[0338] The assumption is then that each virtual HCA port is set up
with two or more GID table entries that are unique also when only
the GUID part is considered. The normal or default case is that the
relevant hwGUID is present along with a vGUID that represents the
currently active VM. The two corresponding GID table entries will
each have a subnet prefix value based on the assigned ISN
value.
Method for Using Subnet Prefix Values in (GRH) for (LFT) Lookup
[0339] FIG. 16 illustrates a method 1600 in accordance with an
embodiment for using packet headers for linear forwarding table
lookup in a network switch environment in a high performance
computing environment. The method of the figure will now be
described. First and second subnets are provided at a computer
environment including a network fabric. The first subnet is
different than the second subnet. The first subnet comprises a
first set of network switches wherein each of the first set of
network switches includes a linear forwarding table (LFT) and a
plurality of physical ports. The second subnet comprises a second
set of network switches wherein each of the second set of network
switches includes an LFT and a plurality of physical ports. This is
the environment of the example embodiment of the method. Overall,
the method 1600 allows a same first LFT of a first network switch
of the first set of network switches to be used for both
intra-subnet forwarding decisions of packets to be forwarded
between ones of the first set of network switches of the first
subnet, and inter-subnet forwarding decisions of the packets to be
forwarded between the first and second sets of network switches of
the first and second subnets, respectively.
[0340] In a first step 1610, a first packet is received at the
first network switch of the first set of network switches of the
first subnet. A first portion of a header of the first packet is
inspected at step 1620. A first condition of the first portion of
the header of the first packet is determined at step 1630, and a
second condition of the first portion of the header of the first
packet is determined at step 1640.
[0341] The intra-subnet forwarding decision is selectively made at
step 1630 when the first portion of the header of the first packet
is determined to have or otherwise exhibit the first condition.
Otherwise, when the first portion of the header of the first packet
is determined to not have or otherwise exhibit the first condition,
the method continues to the inter-subnet forwarding decision step
1640.
[0342] When the intra-subnet forwarding decision is selectively
made at step 1630 when the first portion of the header of the first
packet is determined to have or otherwise exhibit the first
condition, the packet is handled at step 1635 using intra-subnet
(LRH/DLID) forwarding in accordance with an example embodiment.
[0343] Similarly, when the inter-subnet forwarding decision is
selectively made at step 1640 when the first portion of the header
of the first packet is determined to have or otherwise exhibit the
second condition, the packet is handled at step 1645 using
intra-subnet (GRH/ISRN) forwarding in accordance with an example
embodiment.
[0344] At step 1650, the inter-subnet forwarding decision is
selectively made using the first LFT of the first network switch in
accordance with a second condition of the first portion of the
header of the first packet for routing the first packet to a
selected one of the set of second network switches of the second
subnet.
[0345] In the example embodiment, the inspecting the first portion
of the header of the first packet comprises inspecting a local
route header (LRH) portion of the header of the first packet.
Further in accordance with the example embodiment, the determining
the condition of the first portion of the header of the first
packet comprises comparing a selected portion of the LRH relative
to a predetermined value stored at the first network switch, and
determining the first condition in accordance with a mis-match
between the selected portion of the LRH and the predetermined
value, or determining the second condition in accordance with a
match between the selected portion of the LRH and the predetermined
value.
[0346] Further in the example embodiment, the determining the
second condition in accordance with a match between the selected
portion of the LRH and the predetermined value includes a step of
using the LFT to index a Special Switch Port (SSP) using the
selected portion of the LRH.
[0347] In particular with regard to the example embodiment, the
routing of the first packet to a selected one of the set of second
network switches of the second subnet includes selecting a section
of a global route header (GRH) portion of the header of the first
packet, the selected section of the GRH portion of the header
storing an Inter-Subnet-Route-Number (ISRN), using the ISRN of the
GRH to index the first LFT of the first network switch, and routing
the first packet to the selected one of the set of second network
switches of the second subnet in accordance with the indexing the
first LFT using the ISRN of the GRH, wherein the second subnet is
an intermediate core fabric of the network switch environment.
[0348] Further in accordance with the example embodiment, when
neither the first nor second conditions of the first portion of the
header of the first packet are determined at steps 1630 and 1640,
the packet is discarded at step 1650.
[0349] FIG. 17 is an illustration of a HCA providing a mechanism
for allowing multiple GID subnet prefix values concurrently for
incoming IB packets, in accordance with an embodiment. A system
1700 is illustrated for using multiple global identification subnet
prefix values in a network HCA environment in a high performance
computing environment. As illustrated, the system 1700 of the
example embodiment is operable and otherwise includes a first
subnet in an associated computer environment including a network
fabric. The first subnet includes a first network HCA wherein the
first network HCA further includes at least one port (i.e. either a
physical or a virtual HCA port) 1702 operatively coupled with at
least one PortGUID and optionally with one or more AliasGUIDs. A
non-transient memory device stores a first flag 1704 and a first
end port table 1710. In an example embodiment, the first flag
comprises the header portion of the first packet. The first end
port table 1710 includes a plurality of alias identification
entries AliasGUID-1/0-AliasGUID-N/0. Each of the plurality of alias
identification entries may comprise a Global Unique Identifier
(GUID) value identifying a logical end port address identifier for
the associated end port. Logic is provided by the HCA, wherein a
first packet 1112 is received from the network fabric by the first
network switch. The first packet 1112 comprises a header portion
1131 including a destination subnet prefix GRH identifying a
destination subnet of the network fabric.
[0350] In the example embodiment, the first network HCA is allowed
to receive the first packet from a first physical port of the first
network HCA by selectively determining a logical state of the first
flag 1704 and, selectively in accordance with a first logical state
TRUE of the first flag 1704 ignoring the destination subnet prefix
identifying the destination subnet of the network fabric,
inspecting a Global Routing Header (GRH) portion of the first
packet to determine a destination Global Unique Identifier (Dest
GUID), comparing the Dest GUID with the plurality of GUID values
stored in the first end port GUID table, and accepting the first
packet if one of the end port GUID table entries contains a GUID
value matching the Dest GUID.
[0351] Further in the example embodiment, the first network HCA is
allowed to receive the first packet from a first port, selectively
in accordance with a second logical state FALSE of the first flag
1704, inspecting the destination subnet prefix portion of the first
packet to determine a correspondence between the destination subnet
prefix and one or more of: a default subnet prefix value, and/or an
assigned subnet prefix value, and selectively accepting the first
packet based on it having a DGID value matching the one or more of
the a default subnet prefix value and/or the assigned subnet prefix
value as well as one of the GUID values in the corresponding end
port GUID table.
[0352] The system of the example embodiment is further allowed to
receive the first packet from the first port of the first network
HCA by, selectively in accordance with the second logical state
FALSE of the first flag 1704, inspecting the Global Routing Header
(GRH) portion of the first packet to determine a destination Global
Unique Identifier (Dest GUID), comparing the Dest GUID with the
plurality of GUID values stored in the first end port table, and
accepting the first packet to a physical port of the first network
switch having a GUID value matching the Dest GUID.
[0353] The system of the example embodiment may receive from the
network fabric a first packet comprising a header portion including
a destination subnet prefix identifying a second subnet of the
network fabric, wherein the second subnet is different than the
first subnet.
[0354] The logic is executed by the processor to selectively
determining whether the subnet prefix value is to be ignored or is
to not be ignored. In this way, the HCA implementation of the
example embodiment is able to support both dynamic updates if the
subnet prefix as well as the use of multiple prefix values to
represent multiple paths through the fabric as well as dynamic
updates of such path without impacting existing data connections
and/or flows The concept is that the "ignore flag" is policy
information in HCA memory/register. This flag is consulted every
time a packet is received in order to determine how to handle the
DGID in packets with GRH. Hence, the state of the flag determines
the handling of incoming packets with GRH, but the state of the
flag itself is not defined by incoming packets and the state (i.e.
the current policy) is not defined by the header portion of an
incoming packet.
[0355] The system of the example embodiment receives the assigned
subnet prefix value from a local Subnet Manager (SM) of the first
subnet. The received assigned subnet prefix value is compared with
the destination subnet prefix of the first packet.
[0356] FIG. 18 shows an illustration of forwarding domains and
forwarding paths in accordance with an embodiment. By extending the
ability to accept both the default subnet prefix as well as single
assigned prefix value with the ability to totally ignore the subnet
prefix value, a HCA implementation would be able to support both
dynamic updates of the subnet prefix as well as the use of multiple
prefix values to represent multiple paths through the fabric as
well as dynamic updates of such paths without impacting existing
data connections/flows.
[0357] This flexible scheme would depend on relevant router ports
representing ingress paths to the local subnet to control that
incoming subnet prefix values are acceptable for the local
subnet.
[0358] The assignment of GUIDs to end-nodes in the various subnets
could either have a subnet local scope, or it could be based on
always using globally unique EUI-64 values. In the first (local
scope) case, the uniqueness of a DGID would depend on that the
subnet prefix values are not the same for two identical destination
GUIDs, whereas in the second case, there would be no dependency on
the prefix to uniquely identify the relevant destination port.
[0359] FIG. 19 is a flowchart for a method 1900 for allowing
multiple GID subnet prefix values concurrently for incoming IB
packets, in accordance with an embodiment. A packet is received at
step 1920 and the header is inspected at step 1920. The flag 1704
is inspected at step 1930. In accordance with a first logical state
TRUE of the flag 1704, the destination prefix value contained in
the packet header is ignored in step 1940. There, the method 1900
checks at step 1940 whether the destination GUID from the GRH
matches any of the GUID table entries in the table 1710.
[0360] In accordance with a second logical state FALSE of the flag
1704, the destination prefix value contained in the packet header
is not ignored in step 1950 but rather it is used. There, the
method 1900 checks at step 1950 whether the destination prefix from
the GRH matches one or both of a Default subnet prefix value or an
Assigned prefix value such as might be assigned by a local Subnet
Manager (SM) for example. The method 1900 further checks at step
1950 whether the destination GUID from the GRH matches any of the
GUID table entries in the table 1710.
[0361] As described, therefore, a method 1900 uses multiple global
identification subnet prefix values in a network HCA environment in
a high performance computing environment. The method 1900
providing, at a computer environment including a network fabric, a
first subnet, the first subnet comprising a first network HCA
wherein the first network HCA comprises a plurality of ports
operatively coupled with a plurality of associated end port GUID
tables and a non-transient memory device storing a first flag and a
first end port GUID table.
[0362] The method at step 1910 receives from the network fabric by
the first network HCA a first packet comprising a header portion
including a destination subnet prefix identifying a destination
subnet of the network fabric. The packet header is inspected at
step 1920. The logical state of the flag is determined at step
1930.
[0363] The first network HCA is allowed to receive the first packet
from a first port of the first network HCA by, selectively in
accordance with a first logical state of the first flag: ignoring
the destination subnet prefix identifying the destination subnet of
the network fabric; inspecting a Global Routing Header (GRH)
portion of the first packet to determine a destination Global
Unique Identifier (Dest GUID); comparing the Dest GUID with the
plurality of GUID values stored in the port GUID table; and
accepting the first packet depending on the existence of an entry
in the port GUID table containing a GUID value matching the Dest
GUID.
[0364] The first network HCA is allowed to receive the first packet
from a first port of the first network HCA by, selectively in
accordance with a second logical state of the first flag:
inspecting the destination subnet prefix portion of the first
packet to determine a correspondence between the destination subnet
prefix and one or more of: a default subnet prefix value, and/or an
assigned subnet prefix value, and selectively accepting the first
packet based on the port of the first network HCA having an end
port GUID table entry with a value matching the Dest GUID of the
first packet.
[0365] Features of the example embodiments can be implemented in,
using, or with the assistance of a computer program product which
is a storage medium (media) or computer readable medium (media)
having instructions stored thereon/in which can be used to program
a processing system to perform any of the features presented
herein. The storage medium can include, but is not limited to, any
type of disk including floppy disks, optical discs, DVD, CD-ROMs,
microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs,
DRAMs, VRAMs, flash memory devices, magnetic or optical cards,
nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any type of media
or device suitable for storing instructions and/or data.
[0366] Stored on any one of the machine readable medium (media),
features of the example embodiments can be incorporated in software
and/or firmware for controlling the hardware of a processing
system, and for enabling a processing system to interact with other
mechanism utilizing the results of the example embodiments. Such
software or firmware may include, but is not limited to,
application code, device drivers, operating systems and execution
environments/containers.
[0367] Features of the example embodiment may also be implemented
in hardware using, for example, hardware components such as
application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of
the hardware state machine so as to perform the functions described
herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art.
[0368] Additionally, example embodiments may be conveniently
implemented using one or more conventional general purpose or
specialized digital computer, computing device, machine, or
microprocessor, including one or more processors, memory and/or
computer readable storage media programmed according to the
teachings of the present disclosure. Appropriate software coding
can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the
teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those
skilled in the software art.
[0369] While various embodiments have been described above, it
should be understood that they have been presented by way of
example, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled
in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be
made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention.
[0370] The example embodiments have been described above with the
aid of functional building blocks illustrating the performance of
specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of
these functional building blocks have often been arbitrarily
defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternate
boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and
relationships thereof are appropriately performed. Any such
alternate boundaries are thus within the scope and spirit of the
claimed invention.
[0371] The foregoing description of example embodiments have been
provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is
not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the
precise forms disclosed. The breadth and scope of the example
embodiments should not be limited by any of the above-described
exemplary embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be
apparent to the practitioner skilled in the art. The modifications
and variations include any relevant combination of the disclosed
features. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to
best explain the principles of the claimed invention and its
practical application, thereby enabling others skilled in the art
to understand the claimed invention for various embodiments and
with various modifications that are suited to the particular use
contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the claimed
invention be defined by the following claims and their
equivalents.
* * * * *
References